“Hey, what am I looking at?
A Wolverine with a beard thick enough to be a bird’s nest?
Did you wander over from the set of *The Last of Us* next door?
Oh right…
damn, is this the plot of *Logan*?
I remember this piece of shit movie!
Wait, what was the plot again?”
“Damn it, I don’t have enough brainpower for this!”
“What was I supposed to call you?
Uncle Wolvie?
Logan?
James?
Whatever, who cares…
Hey, Logan, where’s that weird mask of yours?
You know, the goofy-looking thing that looks like two Batmans kissing when you split it down the middle…
Come on, can I touch it?
I’ve always thought that thing was cool…
When I go to Gotham in the future, I’ll definitely wear it to show Batman…”
El Paso, Texas.
Liberty Motel, Room 14.
A hyperactive teenage boy sitting in a wheelchair with bandages wrapped around his head rambled like a madman to the impatient, aging Logan standing before him.
“…So, these two brats are your son and daughter?” Logan asked the woman sitting nearby, completely ignoring the erratic kid.
The woman’s name was Gabriela.
She was Logan’s last client of the night, and she wanted him to drive her two children to North Dakota.
That was right.
No new mutants had been born in this world for years, and the remaining ones were gradually dying out.
The once battle-hardened superhero, member of the X-Men, the immortal Wolverine—Logan—had now reduced to a scruffy, aging man scraping by as an Uber driver.
“I’m sorry, Miles’s mental state is…
unstable,” Gabriela said, gently patting the boy’s shoulder.
“Please, Miles, be quiet.
Please…”
“Oh, is it night already?
Well, good night, Gabriela…”
Under the nurse’s soothing touch, the young Miles actually calmed down, his eyes slowly glazing over until he wore a vacant, half-witted expression.
“Heheh…
heheheh…”
Looking at the kid who had been babbling like a lunatic a moment ago and was now drooling like an idiot, the old Wolverine instinctively felt something was wrong.
But he didn’t say much, only casting a brief glance at the girl who had been watching him in silence before turning back to the nurse, Gabriela.
“You said you were a nurse?”
“I was.
In Mexico City.”
“When did you get hurt?” Logan looked at the bleeding wound on Gabriela’s arm, recalling the man who had suddenly appeared earlier to warn him against sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.
“This morning, near the border…
I escaped…”
Listening to her, Logan realized she was being hunted by a dangerous group.
Coincidentally, those people seemed to know exactly who he was too.
Without a doubt, this was a massive headache.
“Look, I have to go.” Logan turned to leave, already regretting taking this job.
A woman on the run from a mysterious, hostile force, along with her crazed, paralyzed son and a mute daughter—Logan could smell the trouble from a mile away.
“No, wait, please…”
Panic-stricken, the woman pulled out a stack of paper-wrapped cash and handed it to Logan.
“Here, take it.
This is twenty thousand dollars.
Drive us to this address…
I’ll give you another thirty thousand when we arrive!”
Logan turned back, took the money, and carefully examined the coordinates.
[48.970333, -102.155491]
It was true.
Though the old wolf wanted no trouble, he was also desperately short on cash.
“We have to get there by Friday…
or we won’t be able to cross the border…”
“Please…”
Looking at the woman’s pleading face, Logan took a few deep breaths, the dim light of the room reflecting in his eyes.
A weeping woman, a brain-dead boy, and a silent girl…
three pairs of eyes stared at him simultaneously.
“Shit!”
Logan cursed under his breath.
In the end, he agreed.
…
Shortly after watching Logan leave, Gabriela took a deep breath and quickly spoke to the two children, “Kids, we need to pack up and get ready to leave…”
“Who was that?” the young Laura asked Gabriela in a low voice.
“He is…
your father,” Gabriela answered.
Laura nodded thoughtfully.
“Miles, Miles, are you listening?” Gabriela turned to the boy next.
“Heheh…
heheheh…”
Miles was unresponsive, still drooling with a goofy grin.
“…Alright, looks like he still needs rest.” Gabriela sighed and turned to Laura.
“Laura, get ready to change Miles’s dressings.
We’ll probably be traveling for days after this.”
“Okay.” Young Laura nodded.
With the two of them supporting him, the vacant, drooling Miles had his bandages slowly removed.
Beneath them, his gaunt, pale face was revealed…
along with a strange device embedded deep into the back of his skull.
The object had clearly been lodged in his head for some time.
A crust of dried pus and scabbed flesh ringed the area where it met his skin.
Its other end was bored directly into his brain; removing it would require specialized surgery, which they obviously had no means of obtaining right now.
“My poor little Miles…” Gabriela whispered.
“God willing, we will all make it to Canada alive…”
Gabriela Lopez was formerly a nurse at the Alkali Transigen facility in Mexico City.
Unable to tolerate the facility’s brutal treatment of the mutant children, she had escaped with Laura and Miles, and was currently being hunted down.
Laura was Logan’s genetic child, possessing the same self-healing factor and adamantium claws.
Miles, on the other hand, was the genetic child of Professor X.
Due to his rarity, since birth, he had been subjected to periodic, forced extractions of blood, cellular tissue, bone marrow, and even…
cerebrospinal fluid.
The device in the back of Miles’s head was a cerebrospinal fluid extractor designed by the laboratory.
It had to be replaced every so often.
Given his state of drooling idiocy and intermittent, delusional ramblings, it was a miracle Miles was even alive.
Gabriela had no choice but to bring him along; without someone to care for him, he wouldn’t survive.
…
It took Gabriela and Laura over an hour to finish changing Miles’s dressings.
“Okay, Laura…
take a break.”
“We need to pack up and get ready to leave…
The Reavers might catch up to us soon.”
Pushing through her injuries and exhaustion, Gabriela hurriedly began packing.
Little Laura silently picked up her shoulder bag, took her small bouncing ball from her pocket, and slipped it inside.
“…Ah, where are we in the plot?”
Miles suddenly spoke up.
“…” Laura glanced at Miles and chose to ignore him.
Her “brother” was a lunatic.
For most of the twenty-four hours in a day, he would drool blankly; during his brief windows of lucidity, he would ramble incessantly about things no one else could understand.
Things like, “I’m actually from another universe,” “How the hell did I transmigrate into X-Men,” and “Am I cosplaying the Professor?
Why did I even get the wheelchair too?”
By now, Laura and Gabriela were completely used to it, never taking his nonsense seriously.
Their most urgent priority was to meet up with “the others” as soon as possible.
*Bang.*
A gunshot rang out.
The window glass shattered.
Laura whipped her head around only to see Gabriela, who was sitting by the bed, slump limply to the side.
She was dead.
At the same time, the young girl detected the faint sound of multiple breaths outside.
It was the Reavers hired by the laboratory!
Laura grit her teeth, and two steel claws slowly slid from her hands.
*Boom!*
The wooden door of the room was kicked hard, accompanied by the faint splintering of wood.
*Boom!!*
Finally, the door handle was kicked off, and the entire door was slammed open.
“Fuck, they really are here!”
“Shit…
that girl is dangerous…
shoot on sight!”
The armed men outside cursed as they prepared to fire into the room.
They clearly knew how dangerous she was and had no intention of getting close.
But right then, an unfamiliar voice echoed from inside the room.
“I’m awake…
Nice alarm clock.
Highly effective, very refreshing, five stars…
But motherfucker!
I’m in a terrible mood right now!”
“So fucking die, all of you!”
*Crackle, crackle…*
The lights across the entire building began to flicker violently, accompanied by the constant popping of static electricity…
Two seconds later, all the lights died at once, plunging the motel room into pitch darkness.
“Huh?” The leader of the group, Donald Pierce, reacted instantly, throwing himself backward!
*Bang!
Bang!*
The next moment, two bullets struck the exact spot where he had been standing, leaving holes in the floor.
The shooters were his own men.
“Shit…” Donald cursed as he watched his two closest men turn around blankly and aim their rifles at him.
“The kid is awake!
Retreat!”
“We’ll come back later!
The kid won’t stay awake for long!”
*Bang!
Bang!
Bang…*
After a few more gunshots, two fresh corpses were left outside.
The rest quickly retreated under Donald’s orders.
The two “temporarily mutinied” Reaver mercenaries remained where they were, silently watching the others retreat without any intention of giving chase.
Once the others had fled far enough, they slowly and with great difficulty turned their muzzles upward, aiming them right under their own chins.
Only then did they finally realize their lives were coming to an end.
“No…”
One of them whimpered, his voice trembling.
Yet, his finger refused to obey his command, squeezing the trigger with sudden force.
*Bang.* *Bang.*
Two gunshots rang out consecutively outside the room.
A burst of blood splattered against the shattered window pane, spraying a few droplets into the room.
“…The old bald guy is a bleeding heart.
I’m not.”
Miles muttered to himself, forcing a grim smile as cold sweat drenched his forehead.
He slowly lowered the two fingers he had pressed against his temple, his arms hanging down limply.
His telepathic and mind control abilities, inherited from Professor Charles, held unparalleled dread for ordinary humans—even if they were only rated at “Delta” level.
But the problem was that Miles’s body was far too weak.
Every use of his powers placed an immense toll on him.
“Whew…
whew…” He took a few deep breaths, then struggled to lift his head, looking toward Gabriela’s body sitting a short distance away.
“I’m sorry…” Miles rasped.
“I ‘fell asleep’ again…”
“Aaargh…” Laura hugged the woman’s body, unable to stop herself from crying out in grief.
Since escaping the facility, the three of them had depended on each other, surviving together until now…
and now, Gabriela was dead.
“Don’t cry…
Laura…” Miles hung his head in exhaustion, barely managing to maintain a thread of rational thought.
“Those people…
won’t stay away for long.
You have to run…”
“…What about you?” Laura asked, gritting her teeth.
“I’m dead weight.
If you take me, you won’t make it either…”
Laura looked at Miles and silently shook her head.
She then helped him into his wheelchair and wheeled him out.
“Tch, another cliché superhero plot…” Miles let out a self-deprecating laugh, then continued, “Laura, hide.
Find the Wolverine…
the man from earlier today.
Right now, only he and the other old man can help us…”
Though Miles’s memories were fragmented, he still remembered that Professor X should be with Logan.
He was the most powerful telepath in the world, and Miles’s “genetic template”.
With his help, Miles might finally rid himself of this intermittent dementia…
But wait, wasn’t the Professor in *Logan* also a bit off in the head…?
Damn it, I can’t remember!
Not enough brainpower!
“My head hurts so much.
Fuck, there’s no other way…
Laura, let me sleep for a bit…
just a bit…
Right, take the guns from those two guys outside, and Gabriela’s phone…”
Miles’s voice grew fainter as he spoke.
The light in his eyes faded once more, and his expression reverted to a blank, mindless stare.
“Heheh…
heheh…”