NO one really knows where the first abhumans came from. Some experts believe the origin of gods as a concept came from the first abhumans, indicating that they have been present since at least the beginning of Homo sapiens sapiens as a species. By this theory, tales of sorcery, fantastical creatures, and heroes and deities all trace to early abhumans. As to what happened to this, the original generation, nobody knows.
Heroes and villains, gods and monsters, geniuses and kings, some of these may have been fiction, but with the existence of abhumans now a known quantity, many may have been fact. Some might even have lived up to the legends, but many scholars still believe that most were exaggeration. Whatever the case, the Middle Ages, the witch hunts, and the "advance" of science seemed to put sorcery to bed, and chase and burn away any suspected of keeping it alive. For better or worse, most (if not all) abhuman bloodlines new and old went into hiding.
There was no hiding the latest generation, though. Radiation quackery was what really kicked off the rise in abhuman population, one way or another. Of course, up until the 1940s, the abhuman population increased at roughly the same rate as the human population. Even with abhuman/abhuman parents always resulting in abhuman births, and human/abhuman parents having a 50% chance of abhuman births, the difference in population growth rates wasn't noticeable. Normals even liked the presence of abhumans, at times, and they inspired some of the earliest superhero comics - Superman, Captain America, and the like.
And then the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the sovereign nation of Japan.
The connection between radiation and abhuman birth rates became obvious, but not immediately, and certainly not to the defense departments of the world powers. They just kept testing nuclear devices, not noticing or caring about the colossal spikes in abhuman births across the Rockies, central Asia, western Australia, and northern Africa. It wasn't until well into the 1960s that they got the message, and by then the discovery about abhuman birth percentages had also been made.
And the masses of normal humanity? Well, it was hard enough getting them to tolerate people with a different skin color at the time, so you can imagine the reaction. Of course, there were some attempts at supersoldiers, but once the global superpowers had theirs, they immediately pushed for the UN to ban research into it, as per usual. There were protests, counterprotests, vigilantes, riots, counter-riots, civil wars in parts of the world, brutal crackdowns on civil rights in others, whole billions of uses of the M-word (you know what it is), purges, genocides, genetic engineering, "social cleansings," and the like, bringing us up to June 12, 2020, and the Twenty-Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted abhumans equal rights to Homo sapiens sapiens under federal law.
But let's back up about about ten years from that. Georgetown, DC. One man, one very wealthy abhuman man, with a dream. Build a school in Georgetown, taking in abhumans from K to 12 and on to Master's program, and make it one that wasn't completely government-funded and/or the wing of some cult/extreme political organization. His identity is unknown - face, name, social security card, nobody knows anything about him other than that he is the prime benefactor of the school. It accepted students from around the world, based on grade level (or need), free of charge.
Somehow, the Loyola Academy for the Gifted has kept on running, now, for almost twenty-five years exactly - this September will be the twenty-fifth. Certainly it's not due to its vigilante extracurriculars, or donations for its programs to help abhuman causes worldwide. That would probably be illegal. Maybe it's the numerous satellite and sister campuses across the US and Asia. Maybe it's the schnazzy uniforms - though there remain doubts about the sanity of people willing to wear blazers in the impenetrable humidity of the District's summer.
But look at you, here at last in Foggy Bottom station, the closer of the two stations near Georgetown, here in late August of 2035. Ready to take on the world, or at least take on school, as part of the Next Generation.
