Age of Cyclops: Falling Up

by Phil Hartman

5/10/1972: Somewhere over Alaska: 09:02 hrs AST

"The rudder's gone ! Kate, get the boys into the parachute !"

"Protect your brother, Scott - I love you - GO !"

"MOM !?!?!?!?"

They fell.

The tightness in Scott Summers' 10-year-old chest was as much from his little brother clinging to him as it was the sense of agony from their mother's shove.

"Mommy ! Daddy !" Alex sobbed, wrapped in a flight jacket and Scott's arms. Scott mumbled something he hoped sounded reassuring, and pulled the ripcord.

The parachute came out, burning.

#We're NOT gonna die, we're NOT gonna die -#

He felt the pain increase, shoving it out of himself and around them both, and saw red.

Then the trees came up, and they hit.

"And you say he can ... project this red energy ?"

FBI Special Agent Fred Duncan nodded once, watching Charles Xavier look into the playroom at the Anchorage Foundlings' Home. The small blond boy within was driving a toy car without much emphasis, under the careful watch of an older, brown-haired boy sitting on a stool nearby.

The older boy's body occasionally flickered with red energy, his brown eyes looking up to meet Xavier's through even the two-way mirror.

"He can sense me," Xavier breathed.

"Impossible," the orphanage director insisted. "He's shown mind-over-matter with the energy, those eyebeams, some kind of crimson force field, even flight - but enhanced senses ?"

Xavier ignored the man, reaching out -

~Hi.~

~You ARE a telepath, then,~ Xavier mindspoke, giving the brown-haired boy a gentle mental handshake. ~I mean you no harm, Scott. I am Charles Xavier, like you, a mutant - someone born with superhuman powers. I wish to help you use your abilities for the good of all mankind.~

~What about Alex ?~ Scott asked.

~Your brother can come with you,~ Xavier said, trying to reassure the boy. ~I believe he may be a mutant as well.~

~... just as long as we can stay together,~ Scott insisted. ~My ... mom and dad wanted me to protect him.~

~Of course,~ Xavier agreed.

He turned to the director and Duncan and said, "I will take them as my wards, if I may."

The director started to sputter, until Duncan's eyes slid sideways at the man. The director finally bowed his head and opened the door, almost bowled over by the blond blur who raced to Xavier's wheelchair.

"Scotty says you're gonna be our teacher," Alex asked, climbing into Xavier's lap with little restraint. "Are ya ?"

Xavier looked at Scott, then at Alex, and at Scott again before smiling.

7/7/1973: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters

She was ... pretty.

#If you count a girl as pretty,# Cyclops - Scott -reminded himself. His visor was for backup in honing his optic gravity beams, of course; he could control his eyebeams with greater ease since Xavier had taken him in over a year before.

The girl was his age, with red hair and pale skin, dressed in jeans and a turtleneck, sitting on Xavier's couch. She looked at Scott, clad as he was in his yellow and black training uniform, and blinked, green eyes seeming to look at him - or through him.

"Uhm ... hi," she said, shyly. Scott pulled back his cowl and sat beside her, careful to keep his gravity power and telepathy restrained.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Scott Summers -"

"Oh ! The Professor told me about you," the girl said, smiling warmly. "I'm Jean Grey. He ... helped me, when my friend Annie died. He pulled me out of my head, I guess ..."

"You're a telepath ... but he did something to you...." Scott said, taking Jean's hand.

They leaned closer, and Scott noticed the couch floating.

"Sorry - my telekinesis's kind of hard to control," Jean said, blushing as they landed hard on the floor.

"So's my grav-power," Scott breathed. "My tepe's not so tough, though ... maybe, if you had yours, we could practice ?"

Jean's face brightened, but it fell as a sound made Scott turn. Xavier looked at them from the doorway, then arched an eyebrow.

"Actually, that is a positive suggestion, Scott," Xavier said, looking at his students. "Jean's powers are very similar to your own - in so far as your gravitokinetic ability requires controls similar to Jean's telekinesis. And her telepathic needs are also similar."

#And somehow, I think I may never be able to separate you two again,# Xavier realized, watching the kids smile shyly at each other.

3/1/1980: Cape Citadel, Florida

#This is IMPOSSIBLE !#

Erik Magnus Lehnsherr struggled, grunting as much from the strain of his grapple with his attacker as from his indignation at having to fight hand to hand at all.

#Charles, where did you FIND this boy ?# Magneto thought, feeling hostile telepathic bolts bounce off of his mental defenses. #Telepathy, gravity control -he could actually rival ME ...#

#No. I will NOT be 'rivaled' by a child.#

"AWAY from me, 'Cyclops' !" Magneto roared, creating a force-cushion of magnetic energy to drive the yellow-and-black-clad teen backwards. "Know this, then, followers of my old friend: you have become my enemies ! When next we meet, I will show NO mercy !"

"Bring it on, bucket-head !" Bobby Drake yelled, shooting snowballs at the retreating Magneto. Scott waved for Bobby to desist, and looked at the rest of the X-Men with a faint smile.

"Clean-up detail, team. We need to be telegenic, as well as heroic," Cyclops advised, glancing at where the media were approaching.

~Excellent work, all of you,~ Xavier advised his students. ~A few interviews may be helpful in advancing our message, Scott, but beware. Revealing your secret identities is dangerous.~

~I understand, sir. How's Alex doing ?~ Scott sent back.

A bemused chuckle flooded the aether, and Scott tried not to grin at the image of his younger brother accidentally incinerating another training drone with a plasma burst.

~He is getting better,~ Xavier sent. ~It will take time, of course. Now go, Scott - show the world what the X-Men are capable of besides fisticuffs.~

1/4/1987

He found her, curled up on her bed, and tried not to wince.

"Scott, please ..."

"Jean ..." he said, kneeling beside her in the dark, his tattered black cape trailing behind him yet from their fight with the Imperial Guard. "Jean, I just want -"

She sat up, tearful, and said, "I need time alone, Scott. They took me and ... CUT me ... cut out my powers, cut out ME, Scott ... I never meant to kill the D'Bari. I never meant to ... to ... I need time to myself."

"Alone !? In a world that knows about Phoenix, that'll be looking to use you, powered or not !?" Scott pleaded.

Jean stood, touching his lips, and kissed him - the act sending jagged glass across the psychic rapport that was no longer there, Scott's telepathy aching to touch his love's mind in equal communion.

Only black, dripping scars, covering hurt and love and pain, answered.

"I can take care of myself," Jean breathed, grabbing her suitcase and leaving.

"Take care of YOURSELF, Cyclops. Until I get back."

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