Part I

Monday 2 September 1963

New York, a busy city, nobody has the time to notice those who are less fortunate, the invisible people, the homeless people. They live on the streets, they eat discarded food, they use rubbish on they will do anything to survive to the next day, next week, next year. A blind, orphaned boy stands no chance of surviving such a life for long.

A boy uses a cane to guide him through the streets. He appears to be 15, 16 years of age, a child-like face shows a life of hardship for anyone who cares enough to see, dark sunglasses hide his sightless eyes but if anyone tired to see, they could see the boy that he could have been. The boy feels his way through the streets, trying to get to his usual begging spot.

A bald middle-aged man in a wheelchair is also trying to make his way through the streets of New York. The man is well dressed in an expensive suit and he appears to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. He seems as though he is searching for something or someone, but he could simply be lost and trying to find out where he is.

He manages to travel quickly; the usually hostile crowds of New Yorkers give way to him and let him past. After a few seconds, nobody seems to remember the lost man in a wheelchair.

~~~~~

The blind boy sits at his usual begging spot, just outside a store, he has no idea what kind of shop it is but he does know that the shop owner doesn't mind him begging in front of the store and occasionally gives him food. The boy hears the constant stream of footsteps from the people walking past him and he also hears the occasional cling from coins being dropped into his cup. The man in the wheelchair approaches the boy; he then stands in front of the boy. The boy senses that someone is in front of him and he lifts his head up.

"Are you Scott Summers?" The man asked the boy.

"Why do you want to know? Did Jack send you?" The boy, Scott, asked nervously, he was afraid of getting into the hands of his abusive foster father, Jack Diamond.

"No Scott, Jack didn't send me," the man calmly answered. "My name is Charles Xavier and I want to make sure that Jack never lays a hand on you again," the man, Charles, added.

"How can I trust you?" Scott asked.

//You are not as alone as you think they are.// Scott gasped as he heard the man's voice echoing around his head.