Benjamin Baxter

Background: The result of a short-lived but intense relationship between Andy Harmon and Brooke Baxter, Benjamin “Benjy” Baxter was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1999. The relationship ended very early into the pregnancy and his father returned to the United States without knowing he’d fathered a child. An only child, Benjy grew up in the outskirts of Sydney, where his mother worked as a customs agent.Although he never knew his father, he was raised with the knowledge that his parents were mutants and that he would likely one day exhibit signs of his own mutation. His mother told him that his father was an X-Man, but despite a lifetime of poking around online for more information, Benjy knows very little about him.He was an above average student, but despite his mother’s urging and prodding, he never developed much of an interest in academics. He did, however, share his mother’s love for sports. Each year his mother bought season tickets to the Sydney Swans, their local Aussie rules football club. He also played sports in the local athletics clubs, where his interests tended to fluctuate back and forth between rugby and field hockey. His mother taught him jujitsu – although he would joke that “taught” was an overstatement, as she took an almost perverse pleasure in reminding him of her ability to put him on the floor as he grew bigger and stronger.His mutation expressed itself in adolescence and he began to exhibit control of gravity around him. As his fine control developed, he began to manipulate gravity during their sparring – adjusting it to throw off his mother’s far superior fighting skills. The smile and pride he saw in her eyes in those moments when he almost got the best of her are among his favorite memories of their life together.Benjy was very close to his mother. A customs enforcement agent, she worked long hours ensuring security of shipping traffic in and out of Sydney ports. She often talked with him about her work over dinner, telling him stories of her agency’s seizure of drugs, weapons, and other contraband. He’d all but decided to follow in her footsteps when a knock at the door by uniformed customs agents brought his world crashing down around him – his mother had been killed on the job while investigating a shipping company whose documentation had raised her suspicions. He was devastated, having lost the stabilizing force in his life and the only family he’d ever known. He returned from her funeral to find his house had been broken into and searched. He was about to call the police to report the crime when he was attacked and incapacitated.

He had only flashes of memory after that, mostly blurry images of being restrained to one of a row of gurneys with a tube dripping intravenous food and drugs into his arm. There were voices he couldn’t make out, the faces of other sleeping people in a similar state; most appeared human, but there were some obvious mutants in the group. He awoke weeks later, weak and shaky, to find himself being sold into mutant slavery in North America.

He gradually came to understand what had happened – what no one had put together at the time. His mother had stumbled across a slaver, shipping abducted mutants from their safe haven in Australia to auctions around the world. She had been killed for her diligence and Benjy had been unlucky enough to walk in on their search for any evidence she may have brought home with her. Rather than kill a promising young mutant, he was abducted into slavery. He was sold at auction and his gravity manipulation skills were put to work scavenging for parts and supplies. Paul Morgan, the human overseeing him, made clear his plans to hone Benjy’s skills into offensive abilities for use against other groups or in a combat arena for sport.

Despite the drugs used to maintain control of him, Benjy managed to withhold the full extent of his abilities and the training his mother had given him. He gradually developed a limited tolerance to the drugs, which he was able to conceal from Morgan. His strength slowly began to return. After several months of hard labor, and witnessing the deaths of dozens of slaves, he had grown strong enough to attempt escape. Benjy broke through security and surprised the overseer by flying away – a skill he had kept to himself. The hole he created in the security perimeter allowed several other mutants to escape as well, although he never saw how many or who.

Once free he put as much distance between Morgan and himself as he could. Eventually, as he traveled, he began to hear the name Black Hawk, a town that was said to be safe haven for mutants. Careful to avoid drawing attention to himself, Benjy made his way to Colorado and sought refuge.

Personality: To Benjy the term “mama’s boy” could never be an insult. It would be a point of pride. His mother was the most important person in his life. She was the only one who supported and encouraged him without hesitation; he credits her for teaching him everything he knows. Her death was devastating and changed his life in a way he could never adequately explain. He lives his life to be the “good man” his mother wanted him to be.

His genial attitude masks a certain loneliness. With no remaining family and no way to get home, he is isolated from the only life he has ever known. He fantasizes about finding his father and building some sort of connection with him, although his search thus far has been fruitless.

There is a special loathing in his heart for slavers. Somewhere, deep down, he blames all of them for his mother’s death, as well as for those mutants he saw die during his captivity. His normally affable mood tends to darken at the mention of slavers. Although he would not admit it outwardly, he fantasizes about horribly slow, painful ways to kill each and every one of the slavers and their associates.

Special Notes: Played by Colton Haynes