The Birth of the Archangel:
A West Side Story/X-Men 3 crossover
Tony Wyzek seemed like your average everyday kid. He was the son of Jack Wyzek—one of the scientists at Worthington Labs and his wife Linda. He was the leader of a gang called the Jets up until three days before his thirteenth birthday, at which point he decided to quit, passing leadership to the co-leader—his friend Riff. He still remained friends with the boys after that day, even though he no longer ran with the gang. They were great friends and shared many secrets, including the one Tony had found out about a week ago—that he had hollow bones like a bird! That had been revealed during a standard checkup he'd gotten at the doctor. Afterward, Tony had jokingly said to his mother, "Maybe I'm part bird Mommy." Little did Tony know how close to the truth he had come with that statement.
Tony's biggest secret began to emerge at about midnight on the night before his thirteenth birthday, when he awoke to a sharp pain in his shoulder blades. He reached up a hand and ran it over his back and found two strange growths there, one on each side of his back. He also noticed a small pile of white feathers falling to the bed. Tony ran to the mirror to get a closer look and noticed the two growths on his back were covered with white feathers—which were falling to the floor—and they were growing! "Oh my gosh! They're wings!" Tony realized with horror. "I'm a mutant!" His wings were hurting as they continued to grow, and knowing that his dad had helped develop the mutant cure only made him feel worse about what he was. He realized he was going to have to tell his parents about his wings sooner or later, but voted to hide them for now under an old trench coat he had lying around from Halloween the previous year. He had hidden his identity with the coat and pretended to be Rick from Casablanca in that coat. Now it would serve to hide the one thing that made him different from other kids his age, his wings.
The day of his birthday was a wonderful time for all except Tony, who was depressed about the secret he had to hide from his family and friends. His parents kept wondering why he was so depressed and why he was wearing a trench coat all day. Riff and the other boys wondered as well. They were having fun, until Riff noticed feathers falling to the floor. Tony realized the feathers had fallen off his wings and knew he had to get out of there before anyone found out about them. He ran home and hid in his room, refusing to come out. His parents grew worried and his mother sensed that he was hiding something from them. She kept trying to get Tony to talk about it, but he wouldn't tell her anything. She hoped that one day he'd tell her what was bothering him.
Then, about a couple of days later, Tony's mother discovered his secret. Normally Tony locked the door to his room when he was in there so that he could stretch his wings, but keep his parents from seeing them, but this time, he forgot. Tony's mother came in to see how he was doing and nearly had a heart attack at the sight of the wings growing from her son's back! Tony looked down at his feet in shame at what he had become, while his mother called his father to see Tony's wings. His father tried to get Tony to take the cure, but Tony just wanted to be left alone. However, Tony finally agreed to think about it and his dad scheduled a time two day later at the lab to administer the cure to his son.
The day of the appointment turned out beautiful and clear, but on the way to the lab Tony began having second thoughts about taking the cure. He'd found a chat room for mutants to talk about dealing with their powers, and a conversation he'd had with one of them had posed an important question: was he taking the cure for himself or someone else. The girl he'd been talking to had made the point that if he was taking the cure for himself it was a good reason, but if he was taking it for someone else, it wasn't. That had made Tony realize that he was taking the cure because his father wanted him to, not because he wanted to. It made Tony decide against taking the cure, and when the orderlies tried to hold him down in the lab Tony broke free and flew out the window to a nearby warehouse, hiding there and refusing to come home unless his dad stopped trying to cure him.
It was in the warehouse that Tony met Warren Worthington III, a mutant with wings just like him and the son of the man who'd created the mutant cure. The two became fast friends, but didn't know where they were going to go next. Then Tony thought of the place the girl he'd met online—Kitty Pryde—had mentioned in one of their online chats, the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester New York. It was a school for mutants to learn to control their powers, as well as a place they could call home if they had nowhere else to go, and it was where Kitty lived. It sounded wonderful to Tony and Warren, who had been looking for a place where they wouldn't feel like freaks and stick out. Tony's friend Riff, who had been sent by their fathers to look for them, found them later and was amazed at the sight of wings growing from his best friend's back and shoulders. It was a little disconcerting for him—especially when he saw Warren had wings as well—but he promised to help the boys keep their secrets, as well as telling the boys' fathers that he'd found them, but not where they were. The boys wanted to keep their location a secret until they'd talked to their parents about the school.
When Professor Xavier and Jean showed up at Tony's house later and met the two winged youths, their parents all agreed to let Warren and Tony attend and live at the school. Warren and Tony were ecstatic at the thought of living with others kids their age with powers, kids who wouldn't think their wings were strange or freakish. It was what they had been looking for ever since they got their powers and they started packing immediately, arriving at the Institute the next day. They were welcomed warmly by the other students, which was a relief to Tony and Warren after being called freaks by everyone else. The Institute immediately began to feel like a second home and the X Men like a second family to both boys, and they became part of the team.
Eventually, the rest of the Jets found out about Tony's wings, and they were none too pleased to find out that Riff had kept them secret from them all this time. They did not consider Tony a freak, however, and often came to visit him at the Institute. Tony also got to go to regular school with the others at the Institute, quickly progressing through middle school and high school and going on to college. In some of his college classes, Tony's mutation became an asset and it became an asset to other students when they started studying genetic mutation and when they studied flight. One student who had been absent when flight was talked about, but had been in class when Tony revealed his wings and ability to fly, thought that he might be able to help her understand about flight since he applied the principles himself all the time. So she asked him for help and when the test day came, she passed it, thanks to Tony! Soon other kids began coming to some of the other X Men for help with genetics and other subjects, quickly changing the opinion of the other students about the Institute's kids. Originally, the kids had thought mutants were freaks, but now they saw what an asset the X-men could be and several grateful kids and parents came by the Institute to say thank you for all their help!
Soon enough, the school became known to mutants and their families worldwide, and they started coming to the Institute looking for a place to call home. Word spread over the Internet, passing from person to person verbally, and many other ways as well. Within a month the X-men had many new teammates, including Colossus's little sister Illyana, who became known as Magik. Several of the teachers at the college had even brought nephews, nieces, cousins, brothers, sisters and other relatives who were mutants and the X-men took in them all. The world grew to accept mutants as being part of society and soon enough, Tony and Warren didn't have to hide their wings anymore and the other X-men could use their powers openly, without fear of persecution. The world that had previously persecuted mutants became a world where they could be safe and not have to live in fear anymore.