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Logan was in New York. He was on vacation and spending his time bar crawling. He passed an alley and stopped. A person was coming down the building along the wall. It looked like they were crawling backwards vertically
Oh, f—drats. Logan didn’t want to curse if the mutant was latently telepathic. It wouldn’t be a good impression. The body was small and lithe. As they landed Logan got a better look. A teen, likely barely one, was looking proud. He looked at a brightly colored plastic watch on his wrist—-Iron Man colors he realized in the back of his mind —. The boy said ‘shoot’ or ‘shit’. Then ran off the other end of the alley.
He hadn’t even noticed Logan.
Damn it.
Logan got his scent and began to trail him. The kid eventually made his way to an apartment building. Right he had to call Charles.
“I haven’t detected any new mutants in the area, Logan.” Charles said over the phone.
“Well I saw a kid coming down with his bare hands so unless he’s an alien or something I don’t have any other suggestions.”
“I will look again. I’ll have Jean prepare a new student packet. We might still be able to offer this child a place to learn their powers if it is the unlikely scenario he’s an alien.”
“He smelled human is all I’m saying.”
“We’ll see Logan. I will get back to you.” Charles said.
The following evening Logan followed the kid because years as a teacher made him feel responsible for super powered children.
Kid went to a warehouse. Logan was at a loss how the kid didn’t notice him. Yeah he was being discreet but not that discreet. Kid could climb walls and from the way he was trying to pull his hands from the wall it was related to some kind of adhesive property to his powers.
Honestly he was just recording the thing. He’d send it to Charles later. It wasn’t like this kid was aware of them so like even if this little bug wasn’t a mutant he needed training. Kid crawled along the ceiling then promptly seem to lose his adhesiveness. He landed with an “oof” and sniffled as he got up.
Ah fuck. Yeah they’d have to get him training. Kid was like 13. He was old enough to want to keep powers a secret but still young enough he wanted comfort almost every time he got hurt.
Logan followed him back to the apartment building.
“I still haven’t detected any new mutants.” Charles said in their phone call that evening. “That video you sent certainly has show he has abilities. We’ll need to approach him.”
“I’m not sure who it is.”
“Jean and I will be there tomorrow. We’ll get an idea of who it is when we are closer. We’ll approach them this week.”
“Yeah well hurry up kid might not be as durable as he seemed.”
“Of course, Logan.”
Peter Parker.
That was the name Jean got when she scoped the building the following. He was the son—no nephew of a Ben and May Parker. He thought of them as parents though. Logan figured the parents either died or abandoned him.
Charles creeped on them a bit as well to get an impression so they could approach them.
There was some conflict in the household around Peter’s secrecy read: new powers.
Looks like they had gotten there at the right time.
They approached them the following afternoon.
There was arguing heard through the door. A young voice, wanting to be taken seriously and angry. An older man angry and worried at the sudden rebellion. A woman’s voice barely heard trying to calm the situation while hiding her own anger and worry.
His strong knock at the door cut the argument short.
A small pause.
Logan knocked again.
The door opened. A man in his forties answered. He was confused but wary at Logan’s rough appearance.
“Hello? How can I help you?” Logan stepped aside so Charles was in view with Jean.
“Mr. Parker, my name is Charles Xavier. I’d like to speak to you and your wife about your nephew, Peter.”
“About what?” May Parker asked from inside. She was in front of her nephew. Logan liked the Parkers at once. They were protective of their kid. Logan knew they wouldn’t reject him like many parents did.
“I run a special school for children like Peter. May we come in?”
“I already go to a STEM school.” Peter chimed in need to add his opinion. May shushed him.
“While we do offer an advance STEM education we are not here to discus that.”
“I guess we can give you five minutes.” Jean offered him the school program they started with.
“Xavier School for the Gifted?”
“Yes, I attended the school when I was younger. I think Peter would find it helpful.”
They entered.
Charles wasn’t sure what Peter was. He wasn’t an alien (after New York he was not ruling that possibility out) nor a mutant. The boy did have powers that needed control. Peter was not just “sticky”, he was strong and had some sort of sense that he didn’t quite know of yet. Charles sensed it. A latent power that would appear soon.
He liked the Parkers. Ben and May Parker had been skeptical. When Jean showed her power they’d been shocked but more open. When Logan showed them the video of their nephew falling shock and worry rang through them.
His aunt had checked him over and fussed over him despite no visible injuries (which Charles noted was likely some healing factor at play). Her love for him was very strong. It was refreshing after half of Charles’s students experienced rejection from their parents.
Peter burst into tears when confronted with it. He admitted getting bitten by a radioactive spider. Ben and May projected their memories so vividly and strongly Charles got the aftermath without asking. Peter had gotten sick. Very sick. They’d taken him to a hospital.
“I want to be a hero like Iron Man.” Peter said as to why he was practicing alone.
Charles sighed. A lot of younger mutants were wanting to be heroes with the emergence of the Avengers. Older students had been dissuaded for decades to simply blend in or move to mutant towns. Erik and him had reached an agreement to that after decades of being hunted down. Charles and other telepaths had removed the idea of mutants from humanity to protect them.
If a family didn’t accept a mutant Charles and other telepaths simply removed the memory of powers and replaced the memories with an ‘acceptance to a boarding school’.
While Peter wasn’t a mutant he needed training. The Parkers were agreeable to sending him. It certainly was the perfect moment for them to get there as Peter had been ready to storm out and “run away”.
They’d need to schedule a tour but it looked like Xavier’s School for the Gifted was getting a new kind of student. Hopefully they’d be permitted to run a genetic test to see what exactly Peter was. If not a mutant then perhaps mutated?
Charles wasn’t sure but it would certainly be interesting.
Perhaps the world would soon be ready for mutants. Erik was certainly sick of hiding. The world was larger now after New York. Aliens were a threat. Humanity could see mutants as their next stage of evolution. A way to defend themselves as a species and world.
One step at a time. One step at a time. Right now they had to enroll Peter into school.