Just Outside of Midvale, Delaware; Feburary 29th, 1992
Charles Xavier, a seven year old boy with a destiny greater than any could imagine, stood in the midst of his father's collection of Egyptian artifacts. His father had recently been killed on an expedition and Charles felt nothing. Everyone else had mourned the death of the 'foremost archaeologist of our generation' but Charles barely knew the man, and so he stood in the middle of his father's greatest achievement, simply to get a feel for the man Brian Xavier was.
Instead, he was inexplicably drawn to the headdress of an Egyptian prince by the name of Khufu. Slowly, he moved the headdress to the top of his head. In an instant, his mind found itself wandering to a place he didn't recognize, a world he didn't know… while his body stayed in Midvale.
"There's no time, Lara!" shouted the voice of the dark haired man next to Xavier. Xavier felt the world shake as he realized he was witnessing this event through the mind of Lara.
"But will he be safe, Jor?" asked Lara as she placed the child in her arms, whom Lara thought of as the spitting image of her husband, Jor-El.
"I've programmed the ship to pilot itself to Earth. Its shields and armor are designed to protect it from any possible threat, he'll make it," Jor-El responded.
"But he'll be an outcast, different," Lara's thoughts screamed two different tunes. She wanted her son to survive their planet's destruction, yet she wanted to be there to see him grow into the man she knew he would become.
"Nothing will be able to harm him," Jor hugged his wife and son as the child was placed inside the blanket-cushioned ark that would carry him to safety. He then turned toward the child, "You will not remember me, but I want you to know that I love you. Even though you will be raised as a human being, you are not one of them. You will have great powers, as you shall soon discover. Your powers will far exceed those of normal men, but don't let that frighten you," he paused, sorrow marked his face as the world shook again, "For this reason, I have chosen the planet Earth as your new home. Go, discover where your strength may lead you. Humanity can be a great people, Kal-El, if they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason, above all, their capacity for good, I send them you, my only son."
Xavier Institute, Midvale, Delaware; Twenty Years Later
Professor Charles Xavier felt the initial psychic wave of panic from Jean and immediately moved to the room that housed the one device that could give him the answers he needed quickly: Cerebro. Lined with a strange metal not unlike that imbedded in the headdress of the prince Khufu from years before, Cerebro served to amplify the Professor's innate psychic abilities to the point where he was capable of tracking down mutants such as those he had taken on as students.
As he placed the headpiece atop his now-bald head, he let his mind sift through those at the Midvale High stadium... until he met with one mind in particular. A mind that had clearly been disciplined to detect and thwart psychic probing that it could have held him captive if not for Cerebro. A mind that manifested this potential prison... as a barn of all things...
"Who are you?" asked the shrouded man who's mind the Professor was currently in. "And why are you in my mind?"
The Professor composed himself. Whoever this person was, they clearly weren't a threat unless the Professor made him one. "My name is Professor Charles Xavier. I'm what is known as a mutant; an individual with superhuman abilities that manifested during my childhood. I was inquiring as to the safety of one of my students: Jean Grey. I mean you no harm."
The shrouded man relaxed, allowing the Professor to see his face... a face not unlike that of the alien Jor-El. "I... I wasn't expecting you."
"You know me?" The figure shifted at that, the only thing giving away what was clearly potential hostility toward the Professor was a shift in the mindscape's coloring from a warm yellow to a defensive blue.
"I know of your father, I believe. May I?" the Professor gestured to the mindscape. The figure, whom the Professor believed to be a now grown Kal-El, nodded as the lighting returned to it's golden yellow before shifting once more at Xavier's mental urging. "There's something I'd like you to see." And the mindscape shifted to that of an old memory Xavier held on to; the same one he had been privy to the first time his power manifested.
"Mom... Dad..." Kal-El muttered as the memory played out, leaving the young man in tears.
When it ended, Xavier noticed that Kal-El had apparently moved closer to his physical location... breaking through the Institute's defenses with ease, and he severed the link to meet the man in person. He had apparently made it all the way to the Cerebro room, which was both impressive and frightening. "My world, OUR world, has a problem," Kal looked at Xavier, wiping the perceived wetness from his eyes, "Over the past millennium, humanity has developed what I call the 'X-gene'. It's a genetic anomaly that can cause instantaneous evolution to whoever possesses it, if they're placed under certain kinds of stress. Originally, this anomaly was rare, appearing in .01% of the entire human population. However, that number increased a hundredfold only last year. Not only that, we've faced prejudice in the past. With your help, I hope we can shape the future in such a way that our children won't be judged by what they are, but who they are."
"I'd be happy to help."
Author's Note: Three chapters into this story and I hope you see where I want to go with this, given the titles. The vast majority of this fic will focus on either Superman balancing his personal and superheroic lives or on the struggles of members of the X-Men, with most of this being familiar fare for those who at least know the story beats of X-Men: Evolution (though I will be bringing in more of the character's comic book personalities instead). Additionally, while this version of Clark isn't immune to X-Gene related abilities like some versions of him, I did want him to be somewhat impressive given the backstory I gave him... and there might even be some of those characters I mentioned making appearances in the future.
As always, hope you've enjoyed and please leave a review.