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He woke up screaming. Again. Night after night. All he could remember was when he could leap into the sky. It wasn't flying, not exactly, but he could glide for a bit. Now it was just gone. He was grounded and it felt like he could fall at any moment. It was vertigo on a regular basis just walking up a stairwell. Sometimes he thought it would be better to just end things so he wouldn't have to live with this pain.
“Benji,” his mother said. “Are you okay?”
“Just the usual.”
Benji’s mother was quiet for a moment. Then she spoke. “That new island. The one for mutants. Maybe you should visit.”
“Why, so I can see everything I've lost?”
“They're inviting mutants who have lost their powers. I think they might have a cure.”
Benji shot up, wide awake and feeling at least a little hopeful. “How can I get there?”
“They have an embassy in New York.”
“I need to go there.”
Benji’s mother gave a small smile. He knew she must have felt that he was in a continuously downward spiral. He had once thought maybe the loss was temporary but it went too long. Now, just maybe, someone had figured out how to fix him.
The next day Benji approached the embassy. It was like nothing he'd ever seen. What he saw was an enormous tree on the edge of Central Park. He didn't know what to make of it, or even how he was meant to approach it. In the past, he might have floated up to see if there was an entrance, but those days were gone. If he'd had the guts and interest he might have even been an X-Man himself.
Benji approached the tree. “Hello,” he called out. “Is there anyone I can talk to?”
Nothing happened as far as he could see. He was starting to get that hopeless feeling again and the old solution was coming back. What choices did he have if he had to live an existence where his soul was torn out? He'd had no idea how intrinsic his powers were to who he was. His genetic structure had to be rewritten to get rid of the powers.
“I need help,” Benji said, not shouting anymore. “I used to be a mutant until M-Day. Then I wasn't. I broke an arm and a leg and broke my nose. Some of my teeth were knocked out so I have false ones in their place.” Benji paused. “And I can't live like this.”
Then something happened. A woman with red hair emerged and floated down until she stood before him. She smiled at him.
“My name is Jean Grey,” she said. “What's your name?”
“Benji Brooks,” he replied. “I need help. I used to be a mutant and I can't stand living this way.”
Jean smiled. “I can help. Come with me to Krakoa. It is possible to restore your powers but it will be unpleasant.”
“I'll do anything.”
Jean went on to explain how it was necessary to go through the Crucible and fight Apocalypse. At the end, after being killed, he would be resurrected with his powers returned.
Benji was having a hard time with the idea. He knew superheroes routinely died and came back but this whole concept was alien to him. The thought of facing that monstrous mutant was scary. What if he didn't come back?
“Many depowered mutants have gone through the Crucible and been reborn with their powers returned. The battle in the Arena is understandably something you might fear but the reward is worth it.”
Benji took a few deep breaths. “Okay, let’s go. The sooner I do this the sooner I can fly again.”
“Your power was to fly?”
“Gravity manipulation. Just enough to glide and move some stuff.”
She smiled. “I can't wait to see you in the sky.”
The trip to Krakoa was weird. They entered through a sort of archway composed of living branches that made a circular shape. There were flowers at the base. When he stepped through he saw what he could only describe as paradise. The entire island was alive.
Benji looked around. He saw mutants all around him. People flying, or just standing around looking like diamonds, or having extra eyes, or green skin. It was one thing to see this on television but another to view it with his own eyes. He couldn’t wait to be part of it.
They handed him a sword. He could barely even hold it. He’d been strong in the past, or at least decently so. Since he’d lost his powers he gave up on exercise and it showed.
Apocalypse strode towards him, forcing him to acknowledge that he was nothing more than a lowly human. The mutant hadn’t even given the pretense that he could be defeated. He’d enlarged his form so that he was probably triple Benji in size.
Benji raised up the sword and attacked. He had no idea how to use it but he didn’t care. If this was what he had to go through to get back his mutant powers he’d do it. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to get back that missing part of himself, to be whole again.
Apocalypse didn’t make it easy. He beat and battered Benji, never hurting him so badly that he couldn’t get up again. Finally, with whatever strength he had left in him, Benji attacked. Then he saw Apocalypse raise his sword for a final blow and everything went black.
Benji wasn’t sure what to expect but it wasn’t anyplace he’d ever been. Everything was white. It was like he was floating in the air and he could tell that was the case. He smiled. Then he was pulled away.
He was in some kind of oval structure with a gelatinous substance covering him. It wasn’t dark and he knew he had to get up. He broke through the shell and crawled out. He realized he had been in some kind of enormous egg and covered in yoke.
There were many mutants surrounding him. Though he was completely naked he found he didn’t care.
“Show us your power,” Apocalypse bellowed.
With a thought, Benji rose up into the air. He raised a hand a caused the eggshells into the air. It had come easier than in the past and he realized he was more powerful. With a smile, he allowed the shells to clatter to the ground.
“Who are you,” Apocalypse asked.
Benji was about to give his name but knew that wasn’t what he was being asked. He was a mutant, whole, and in what he now knew was his homeland. He was being asked to shed his past and head forth into his new life.
“Starman.”