Author's Note: This story is meant to show the life of my Marvel Universe (Earth 763)'s version of Warren Worthington, AKA Angel. Odd choice I know, but still. Angel's got a good story arc, and I wanted to do my take on it. Expect some serious nods to the character's 616 history but with some differences thrown in to make things interesting. I hope you all enjoy my story!

Part 1: Cherub

Warren Worthington III stared out at the mansion-sized building where he would be living for the foreseeable future with silent awe. It was at least as big as his parent's house, so on that level it was not too unfamiliar, but it was still impressive-looking all the same. Nevertheless, Warren did a feel a sense of uncertainty in the pit of his stomach as he approached the gates with his belongings in hand and under his arms. It was almost akin to the feeling one had when it was their first day of school, only Warren knew that this was far more than just a first day of school. This was the first day of school mixed with moving, and he would be moving in without his parents.

His parents. Warren shot a look over to them. His father was a gaunt and haggard man with graying hair and lines on his face but nevertheless was smiling supportively at his son. His mother did the same, silently urging Warren to go up to the door and knock. Warren hesitated at first, his cheeks flushing red and his heart racing, but finally he managed to muster courage enough to slowly advance. Setting down one of his bags, Warren nervously knocked on the doors.

They were opened by a pretty redheaded girl about Warren's age who smiled at him.

"Hello. You're Warren Worthington right?"

Warren nodded meekly, his cheeks now redder still. "I'm Jean Grey. Welcome to the Xavier Institute. Come on in, I'll tell the Professor and Scott that you're here. Hank can help you with your bags"

Warren nodded wordlessly and then walked in, shooting back one last look at his parents. He knew he wouldn't be seeing them again for a while, and so he waved good-bye to them. His parents waved back and his mother blew him a kiss. His confidence bolstered a little bit more by this, Warren turned around and waited for Hank to show up.

Eventually a bigger man with blue fur and hair walked up to Warren, his unusual appearance causing his jaw to fall open in shock. Taking a few cautious steps back, Warren's bulging eyes took in the man's bizarre appearance for a few moments before he spoke in a surprisingly sophisticated and gentlemanly sounding voice: "No need to be alarmed Mr. Worthington. I can assure you I am quite human. Every bit as you and Miss Grey are"

"Are…are you Hank?" Warren asked nervously.

"Yes. I am Hank McCoy. I am a student here at the Xavier Institute along with Miss Grey and Mr. Summers"

"You mean…there's only three of you here?"

Hank nodded. "Yes, until you arrived that is. Now there are four of us. The Professor's planning to admit more students eventually, but we're starting small for now. Things are very hard for people like us right now, so we need to be careful. We can't attract unwanted attention to ourselves"

"Right…unwanted attention…" Warren muttered, remembering when he and his parents had first discovered his wings. It had been around Warren's thirteenth birthday when his back been feeling incredibly sore for weeks on end as if a car had rammed into his back at full speed and there was an eternal bruise stamped onto his back afterwards. It hurt just to sleep on his back, so he slept on his stomach instead. No one could understand what was wrong with him, and for a time his father just dismissed it as young Warren making up stories.

And then, one day, while getting out of bed, young Warren Worthington saw that there were white feathers in his bed.

At first thinking that a bird had gotten into his room, Warren had searched every inch of his room and checked all of the windows to see if they were open. None of them were, and Warren found no bird in his room. Then he saw that more feathers had ended up on the floor of his room.

Fear had flooded his body, and Warren rushed into the bathroom. Looking at his back in the mirror, he saw what had happened to him. Warren had screamed so loudly he had woken his parents, who rushed into the bathroom and discovered what had happened to their son.

"Oh my God! There are wings growing out of his back!"

"I can see that!" Warren's father growled. "Why are they there?"

"Daddy what's happening to me?" Warren had asked. His father didn't answer him.

"Honey we need to get them off of him!"

"We can't just waltz into a hospital with him, they won't know what to do!"

"We can't just sit here and do nothing either!" Warren's mother snapped.

"Calm down" Warren's father said. "We'll figure something out"

"Daddy, what's happening to me?" Warren had asked again, now on the verge of tears.

"I don't know son…" Warren's father had said, hugging him tightly. "I don't know…"

"Uh, Mr. Worthington?"

Hank's words brought Warren back to the present. "Oh, yeah, sorry Hank. I…I was just remembering when my…my…wings first came"

"Wings? So that's your mutant power? Curious. Mine is, as you can see, my current physical form coupled with an increase in physical attributes. I wonder if others have acquired similar animal-like abilities as their powers?"

"How many of…"us" are there, out there?" Warren asked curiously.

"If only we knew the answer to that" Hank said. "There could be only two dozen or as many as two thousand. We don't know. What we do know is that more and more of us seem to be showing up every day and its causing quite the fuss out there in the world. That's why the professor built this school. For people like you, me, Jean, and Scott. It's a place where we can learn how to use our powers responsibly and for the betterment of society. To peacefully coexist with those who don't have the powers we do"

"Sounds like quite the dream"

Hank nodded. "It is. But so were the dreams of great men like Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr. And they all made great progress in their lifetimes. I believe that the professor can do the same"

The conversation was interrupted by Jean's return, and this time she was accompanied by two men, one a boy not much older looking than Warren with ruby red sunglasses over his eyes and messy brown hair, and the other a much older man in a suit who was confined to a wheelchair and didn't have a single hair on his head. He smiled warmly at Warren upon seeing him.

"You must be Warren Worthington. Welcome to the Xavier Institute. You will be safe here from the unfortunate chaos in the outside world concerning our existence"

"Our existence? By that you mean us people with…powers?"

Professor Xavier nodded. "Yes. We are Mutants Warren Worthington. The next step in our species evolution. Unfortunately the human race's initial reactions to us are far from welcoming. So until such a time when humanity accepts us, we must take some measures to look after one another. That is why I created this school. For people like you and your three peers here" Xavier gestured to Hank, Jean, and the boy with the red glasses.

"You've already met Jean Grey and Hank McCoy. This young man is Scott Summers. He was the first child I found and brought here"

"Nice to meet you all, really." Warren said awkwardly. "I just…I just don't like that I have to hide here I guess. Like I'm some kind of monster"

"None of us like hiding from the world" Scott Summers said. "But the world's not ready for us yet. It will be one day if the Professor has anything to say about it. But for now, we have to stay here."

"Don't worry" Jean said. "We'll make you feel welcome here."

Warren nodded and smiled. "Thanks."

-X-

The first few days were the most awkward of all. Warren would wake up expecting to do things the way he did back home only to have to remind himself that he wasn't home anymore. He was someplace else now, a place he had to stay at until the world became ready to accept people like him. And with only four other people sharing one big mansion with him, Warren felt lonely. But at least the others made good on Jean Grey's promise to make him feel welcome. After about a week Warren was able to figure out where each of his fellows spent most of their time. Hank preferred the solitude and peace of his lab, Scott was usually training in the gym, and Jean was often with either Scott or the Professor. And all of them would frequently watch the news regarding what was dubbed "The Mutant Crisis" on television.

"Chaos is spreading around the globe as more and more cases of teenagers developing unusual abilities and physical characteristics are popping up. Scientists are baffled as to how this is happening, and stress that the terms "mutant" and "mutation" are inaccurate, and that this is something entirely different. What exactly is yet unknown, but ideas range from the next step in human evolution, as suggested by Professor Charles Xavier, some type of disease, or, according to many evangelical groups a sign of Armageddon. Whatever the truth, more and more of these "Mutants" are showing up every day, and violent responses to them have become commonplace."

As the man on TV said this, everyone's expressions became very grim as they then saw images of large purple colored humanoid robots being assembled.

"Calling for order, the President has authorized the creation of machines designed to control what has been officially dubbed "The Mutant Problem". These robots, known as "Sentinels" will be charged with containing dangerous mutants and also making sure that the ongoing violence doesn't escalate any further"

"Unbelievable. They're making robots to hunt us down. I can't believe it…"

"They're scared Scott" Xavier said grimly. "They're only acting out of fear. And the Sentinels are not being made to kill us"

"Yeah, but this isn't much better. And who's to say that's not going to be the next thing on their agenda?"

"It won't be. Not as long as mutants like us continue to do our best to build bridges"

It was then that Warren spoke up: "Uh, Professor, I've been wondering: you keep saying we'll help make things better for us, but how are we going to do that?"

Xavier smiled as Warren asked this. "I'm glad you asked that Warren. My plan is to have you four be an example. Together as a team you will venture out into the world and both protect fellow mutants when they are in danger and also publicly promote peacefully coexistence between us and normal humans. You will become saviors and guardians to both groups"

"What, are you going to make us into superheroes or something?"

"As a matter of fact, that is exactly what I intend to do" Xavier said with a smile. "Fear not: I will train you all. Teach you how to use your powers properly, so that you do not end up doing more harm than good. I will construct aliases and costumes for you all, so that your identities need not be public knowledge. I will not send you into great danger until I am absolutely certain that you are all ready"

Warren nodded. "OK, that makes it sound a bit better I guess…but I still don't know…"

Scott walked forward and put a hand on Warren's shoulder. "I know its overwhelming Warren, but the other mutants out there need us. You saw what they're doing on the news: those Sentinels are not going to be protectors, they're going to be oppressors. The mutants of the world need heroes, same as everyone else. They need a guardian angel. You can be that guardian angel Warren"

"I…I don't know…"

"Give him time Scott." Hank said, intervening. "In any event none of us are going to be out and about in colorful costumes until after we've finished training"

"And how will we be doing that?" Warren asked.

The others smiled.

"With among other things a beautiful thing called The Danger Room"

Author's Note: I know, I know, it's the origin/introduction and all that. Not the most fun or exciting chapter in the world but I did my best with what I had to work with. I hope you all enjoyed and stick around. I'll be showing off far more exciting stuff come next chapter!

And yes, its worth mentioning that the term "mutant" isn't really the best to use for the X-Men and their little corner of the Marvel Universe, as mutations pertain to small anomalies in a person's genetic code and doesn't really pertain to evolution. That would be more natural selection.