Cyclops: Fear No Gods (Marvel)

The early years.

The Golden Age.

It had been the beginning of the rise of superheroes, back when they were young and inexperienced. People trying their best to make the world a better place by dealing with crime wherever they could.

Heroes came and went, as did the villains. Some tried their best to make a mark on the world, to establish themselves and some succeeded. But there were many who couldn't for a whole number of reasons.

Sometimes the weight of their responsibilities and the difficulties they faced were too much for them to handle. The pressure broke them down and they retried, never being seen again as they returned to a life of normality.

Others, determined to not fail, pushed themselves too far. They faced villains far beyond their abilities to deal with and paid for it with their lives.

Some even tried to make huge changes in the world by targeting the government itself. Often become the very villains they sought to stop in their pursuit of a utopian world.

That was the curse of being a hero.

Not know where the line was.

Not knowing when to stop.

They kept pushing and pushing without knowing their limits. Eventually, everything broke, but heroes survived where others didn't and that led to the belief that they could keep going.

Even when they shouldn't.

The Golden Age had been a turbulent time with heroes and villains coming and going in droves. However, with the correct knowledge and preparations, surviving would be simple. Scott intended to take advantage of this period to train the X-Men and himself to higher degrees than ever before.

Cyclops had met many obstacles in his youth, obstacles that stalled his progression until eventually, he had no free time left. The responsibilities that he had taken onto himself forced Cyclops to focus his attention elsewhere.

There had been times, moments when Cyclops had shown the ability to alter the trajectory of his Optic Blasts. When he had been able to see without his Ruby Quartz visor. However, Cyclops had no free time with which to train these abilities and instead, the control he had over his powers decreased over time as the output increased.

Scott did not intend to suffer the same fate, watching as his Optic Blasts rebounded off walls. Dozens of them bounced across the room dangerously, as Scott watched them all carefully.

Then one came at him head-on Scott avoiding with a slight shift of his head. Because at the same time, another beam came at him from a diagonal angle. However, a step to one side saw it hitting g the ground and rebounding away.

Again and again, Scott shifted around the room, dodging the Optic Blasts he had fired with the smallest movements possible. Occasionally firing out others when the existing beams dissipated.

His main focus was on his spatial awareness. He needed to be aware of his surroundings at all times prepared to respond at a moment's notice to any attack that came his way. But also focused on reducing the amount of movement he made while dodging.

Everything required the expenditure of energy, no matter how small or large. If Scott was to use big movements to dodge easy attacks then he'd be wasting energy and cause himself to fatigue much sooner.

That was a quick way to die in this world.

Even the simplest of fights were part of a war of attrition. Often, heroes go days without sleep and very little to eat. Sometimes spending days constantly moving as they were being hunted by police after a tiring battle against a villain, especially in the Golden Age.

Endurance was key to a hero's survival.

Eliminating wasted movements was the best way to conserve energy in preparation for later possible conflicts. Endurance training was a good way to improve one's stamina, but the removal of big movements and replacement with smaller, more conservative ones was just as good. This was something Cyclops despite the obviousness of it all, had not truly understood until later on.

Scott intended to get ahead of those things and at the same time, it helped improve the control he had over his powers. Small blasts fired with just enough energy to travel a fair distance before losing said energy and power behind them. The control needed to get that right was something Cyclops had only been able to accomplish with his Ruby Quartz visor, but now Scott was getting comfortable with using it without that aid.

However, it was by no means battle ready.

Scott had not yet received a suit yet, but he had already told Xavier of the Ruby Quartz and what it could do. The amount of concentration it required to control the output of his powers in such a way was by no means small. In a battle, he could not allow himself to turn his attention away from his opponents and their movements. He needed to study their moves, analyse what their next plan would be and how to best counter it.

If he was focusing on controlling the output of his powers while doing that, then he would be too slow to react. He needed freedom and speed, which is what the Ruby Quartz visor would provide in conflict. However, Scott had to also be conscious of not developing a reliance upon said visor as Cyclops had.

It was a fine line he was walking at the moment.

But one that until he could gain absolute control over his Optic Blasts, he would be forced to walk. However, it was one he would take one step at a time, never stopping for a moment. He could not allow himself to be complacent, to rest for a single second.

-X- Line Break -X-

Laying back on his bed, Scott scrolled through the news feed on his smartphone, once again realising another oversight on his part. A glaring difference that at the time, had been overlooked due to other thoughts weighing on his mind.

The level of technology in this world.

It was much greater than what the Golden Age had been like for Cyclops' world, almost reaching the levels of the later years, before Norman Osborn rose to power. Everyone had smartphones that allowed them to connect with anyone anywhere in the world, and to share their lives through photos and captions.

He had overlooked it because it had been such a minuscule thing to him when looking at the memories. Technology had varied, some still use rotary phones, but yet able to produce huge robots of incredible complexity. However, as the world developed, the level of technology rose until things such as a smartphone were old-fashioned.

Yet here, the smartphone had been around for a few years at this point, the younger generation was now expected to have one. It was a small difference when considering everything else in the world that was going on, but it showed that they were in more modern times compared to Cyclops' own origins.

'But thanks to that, finding information is much easier.' Scott thought to himself, pausing as his eyes landed on a news headline. One with a picture of a winged figure, shrouded in shadow as it flew in front of the moon is spotted. The title reading, "Winged Mutant spotted in New York City. Hero or Monster?"

Warren Worthington was on the move.

'Perhaps it's time to have a trip out to New York for a few days.' Scott thought, it being Thursday right now. 'Though Alex won't be too happy I left him behind, it's best he doesn't get involved in these things.' Even though Alex had powers that were much more powerful than his own, Scott would rather allow Alex to live as normal a life as possible.

Certainly, he could become a huge asset to the team, but not only was he young, but he was also his brother. Scott would rather not have him fighting, not if he could do it all and even if he couldn't he would try his hardest to make it so that he never had to.

'Should I tell Charles though?' That was the next conundrum he faced.

He still didn't fully trust Charles just yet.

Certainly, just like in Cyclops' memories, Charles was a good man, but he was also incredibly naive. Scott knew from the memories and from what he had seen of this world that humans were on the path to repeating the same actions once more. Yet, Charles still believed that his goal could be accomplished without war between their two species. Scott didn't agree and neither did many others out in the world.

Including the humans he adored.

Scott didn't know what had happened in Charles' life to make him so certain in the good of mankind, but Scott didn't see it and nor would he rely on the good of the people to help Mutants. That was why he was hesitant to trust Charles because Scott didn't know if he would be able to do what wa required should mankind be unwilling to stop hating Mutants.

If Charles wasn't able to do that, then Scott would rather not be tied to someone that was only going to serve as dead weight. He would not be dragged down and handicapped as he fought for the right for him and Alex to live their lives as free men.

"I suppose I'll send him a message tomorrow." Even if Charles wanted to stop him from going, Scott was going to go anyway. For now, Charles was someone Scott would work with, but he would never rely on anyone completely, never again. The memories Cyclops' had shown him, proved that even his greatest of friends could betray him.

In turn, become his greatest of enemies.

They relied on him and clung to him as he fought in pursuit of their shared goal. But the moment Scott did something questionable or did precisely what none of them was willing to do, they turned him. None was a greater example of this than the man Cyclops had respected the most, Wolverine.

The world was on the brink of war, and Mutants were an endangered species on the verge of extinction. Their enemies closed in on them from all sides, not just the governments and Mutant hate groups, but even fellow heroes, the Avengers. Through all that chaos and turmoil, Cyclops had struggled to lead Mutants out of the dark tunnel and to the light at the far end.

But he did it against all odds.

He made enemies out of some of the most dangerous men of the world, enemies out of some of the greatest heroes to ever live. Cyclops did it all for the Mutants that he loved and did so with every resource at his command. They were limited and dwindling, yet Cyclops did the best he could with what he had and people recognised that.

Young Mutants with nowhere to go, came to him, children who wanted to fight for their own survival. Children would rather die on their feet than live on their knees. Cyclops gave them a chance when others would have refused and what did Wolverine do? He left, splitting their already fractured and small race apart even further making his task even more difficult.

But they were not enemies, nor had Cyclops ever intended to make an enemy of the Mutants who had gone with Wolverine. In fact, he encouraged Mutants to go with him as he and those that stuck by his side took upon the burden of the fight that Mutants had to fight.

Yet what did Cyclops get in return for that?

Wolverine refused to cooperate in any capacity whereas Cyclops helped him in every way he could. Then, Wolverine even betrayed him to the Avengers, joining the very heroes that hypocritically fought in defence of the very humans who sought to kill them all.

Scott knew the could not do these things alone, but he would never rely on anyone again. He was the only one who knew how much it hurt Cyclops when his own friends, the people he had trusted to always have his back, turned on him simply because he was doing what was necessary when that was the only option and they were too scared to do it. Cyclops did it so they did not have to and they turned on him for it.

But just as Cyclops kept moving forwards, so would Scott.