Alvin didn't refuse Chief George's request, because they'd already talked it over!
All Alvin had to do was use his influence to vouch for the New York Police Department and call on ordinary people who'd suddenly mutated and didn't know what to do to come register with him.
Alvin would keep the records. All Chief George and the others needed was the ability to access them when a Mutant committed a crime.
In other words, Alvin would step forward under the banner of the New York Police Department and establish a public-benefit Mutant Union that kept its members' records confidential and had the backing of the police.
Like the Hollywood actors' union or the truckers' union in the United States, it would set standards for its members' conduct from within.
If a member's personal rights were violated, the Union would step in and use legal means to protect their interests.
This was the kind of opportunity an ambitious person could only dream of. The interests involved were so vast and complicated that Alvin was the only one who could serve as the first president of the Mutant Union.
Only Alvin would treat the position as a fairly light burden. And only Alvin could earn the respect of all Mutants and make everyone else take them seriously.
That was also why Chief George had bypassed Congress and fought through opposition in the State Legislature to implement the Mutant Secret Registration Act in New York.
Any political interference in the bill would turn the whole thing into a mess. Only by entrusting the Union's formation to Alvin could they avoid serious resistance.
Faced with a request like Chief George's, Alvin couldn't find a reason to refuse.
As Alvin saw it, all he had to do was find an office in a suitable