Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men or any other Marvel characters. The only thing that is mine is the plot.
A/N: One day, while suffering from writers block on another story, I started to wonder about certain characters, and their origins. Then I started to ask myself 'what if' questions, and this story was born. I had given up on it, and considered it a write off, until I was inspired to pick it up and finish it thanks to a request by JOUNOUCHI sama, who acted as a sounding board for my ideas, and provided many of their own. Whenever I felt writers block creeping in, I was encouraged by a private message, and found it a little easier to get back on the horse and continue. So, a special thank you goes out to JOUNOUCHI sama, for helping me complete this story.
What if, when Scott Summers ran away from the orphanage, he was not discovered by Jack Winters, or even Charles Xavier? This story will tell the tale of a new origin for the X-Men's first leader, the man known as Cyclops.
The Makings of a Hero
Prologue - Part.1. - Chance Encounter
"I think he went this way." A man says, as he stands at the entrance of a dark alley.
"Are you sure?" Another man asks. "I want to catch that freak, and make him pay for what he did to my shop."
"I'm not sure, but I can't see anywhere else that he could have gone." The first man replies.
The two men are joined by several more and they start walking down the dark alley. "Be careful; you saw what that freak did to my shop." The second man says.
Further down the alley, crouched in a doorway, is a fifteen year old boy, with a blindfold tied tightly over his eyes. That fifteen year old boy is Scott Summers; and no, he's not blind. He's a mutant with the power to fire beams of concussive force from his eyes. But he can't control his power, so he wears the blindfold to keep him from opening his eyes.
He's also a runaway orphan who, moments ago, while in a corner store, tripped, had his blindfold slip off, accidentally opened his eyes, knocked down several shelving units, and blew out the side wall. Hence, he's now hiding from the owner of the store, and several patrons who saw what happened.
Suddenly, the door behind him opens up, and strong, slender hands grab him, pulling him inside. One hand covers his mouth, and he hears a female voice whisper in his ear, "Shh. Don't make a sound; I'm here to help you." He hears the soft click of the door being closed. "Come with me." She says as she takes his left hand and pulls gently.
"Who are you?" He asks, resisting her pull.
"I'll tell you everything once we get downstairs; they'll be right outside soon, and will hear us if we don't hurry." She replies, as she pulls even harder.
Making the decision to trust this person, Scott stands up and says, "Okay; lead the way."
He allows her to lead him, shuffling his feet forward, so as to avoid tripping over anything, and is amazed that, not once, does he bump into anything. *Either this place is empty, or she has experience with blind people. That is if she is a girl, and not a guy with a high pitched voice.*
"Alright, we're at the stairs." She says as she places his hands on her shoulders. "Hold onto me and I'll guide you down." She starts down slowly, allowing him the time to secure his footing before taking each step. "Watch out; the stairs are old." she warns him as they near the bottom.
Sure enough, her warning comes just as Scott places his foot on a step that cracks under his weight. He stumbles forward, losing his grip on her shoulders as she turns around to try and help him. He collides with her, knocking her over, and they fall past the last two steps to land with a thud on the ground.
"Ow." Scott says as he lifts himself up on his elbows. "Are you okay?" He asks, feeling her stirring underneath him.
"I will be, once you remove your hand from my breast and get off me, so I can stand up." She replies.
"Sorry." He says, quickly pushing himself to his knees, before standing up and rubbing his left shoulder. *Well, as least I know it is a girl, now.*
He hears shuffling, and guesses that she is picking herself up off the floor. "We need to hurry; they may have heard that." She says, grabbing his hand and pulling him away from the staircase.
She stops, several feet away, and places a hand on his head. "Duck down, or you'll snack that pretty little head of yours." He does as instructed, and she leads him a few feet forward, before releasing his head and saying, "Okay, you can stand up again. Wait here."
He hears some scraping sounds behind him, before she returns and takes his hand again. "Come, sit down. They won't find us in here."
She leads him to a chair and helps him sit down. "Thank you." He says.
"No problem. I couldn't let those monsters get their hands on you." She says, kneeling on the ground in front of him. "What's your name, by the way?"
"Scott, Scott Summers." He replies.
"Well, it's nice to meet you Scott; I'm Raven Darkholme."
A/N: That's it for the first chapter, hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to review.
Text in *Italics* represent thoughts.