Piecemeal

Origin

Piecemeal (Gilbert Benson) was a child, a mutant with the ability to track and absorb energy fields. Unbeknownst to him, his mutant powers would eventually be the reason why his mother turned against him. His mutant gifts would also have him merge with one of the most feared mutants to ever be in existence, Proteus.

Two terrorists by the name of Gideon (an immortal mutant member of the Externals) and Toad (a long time X-Men villain) oddly began to work together and became the self-styled “Kings of Pain.” During this unlikely partnership the two were informed that the energies of Moira MacTaggert’s son were still in existence, and could potentially be utilized as a weapon. Ultimately, their goal was to access and capture Proteus’ energy patterns through-out the world, then use them to create super-powered minions that would work for them. All they needed was someone to do the work for them. This was when they met Harness.

The “Kings,” were able to lock down and get GeneTech and A.I.M. These two groups would provide the hardware and man-power to get the job done. The way they decided to gather and hold the energy was by using a living person as the sponge and containment unit. Unfortunately for him, this living person was Piecemeal. This plan was nailed down due to an unlikely individual, his mother, Erika Benson. Erika was an operative of A.I.M., and willingly took up the job, knowing full well the danger her son would be placed in. She was given a battle suit, and a team, the Alliance of Evil. They all set out (Piecemeal in tow) visiting each of the various places of Proteus’ energy spikes. These locations were discovered by both mother and son (Harness’ suit being able to follow the energy trail as well). Once they reached the Harness cruelly exploited her son and forced him to absorb or “eat,” the aforementioned energies. He then stored them in his small body. This was a painful process which soon left Gilbert misshapen and bloated, and in a constant state of agony. It’s never revealed why Gilbert’s mother was willing to put her son through such pain. (As the reader, you’re never aware that the individual in the Harness armor is his mother until the end of the arc. Harness treated Gilbert so cruelly and with such disregard to his life, it’s just assumed that the individual in the armor was some evil menace that didn’t care if the boy lived or died.)

They went to multiple locations to gather enough energy to “resurrect,” Proteus. As he absorbed more and more energy, Piecemeal grew tremendously in size, upwards of 700 lbs, until the boy could no longer contain the tremendous force. It became a struggle simply to live.

These attempts to restore Proteus did not go unnoticed, however. A combination of teams (including the New Mutants, New Warriors and an oddly put together team of X-Men led by Moira) worked together to try and save Piecemeal therefore preventing the younger MacTaggert from resurfacing. They were able to pin down the next (and final) pocket of energy. It was in Edinburgh, Scotland where Proteus was finally defeated long ago by an earlier incarnation of the X-Men. The combined groups were able to make short work of Harness and her crew, but were too late to help Piecemeal stop absorbing the final amount of energy. They failed in trying to help release the energies from the young mutant. Unbeknownst to our heroes the Proteus energies reformed and were far too great in strength to be held in the dying boy’s body. Seconds later, the Piecemeal’s body exploded. When this occurred the two individuals combined to create one unstoppable entity with both boys’ powers.

Proteus/Piecemeal was different from the original Proteus form, in that he was not angry or even evil. He simply wanted a better life, but felt betrayed by the world. He initially wanted to attack his mother, due to the entity being two separate mutants, he attacked both Harness and Moira. With the entity at a power level far too strong for all of our heroes and too dangerous to allow to exist, they reluctantly decided to manipulate him into ending his existence to spare the planet. Despite the opposition of Cable, they succeeded and Proteus ceased to exist and took Piecemeal with him.

Powers

As Piecemeal:

Piecemeal had the mutant ability to track and absorb energy fields, and alter his mutant cells to store and metabolize these specific energy signatures.

As Piecemeal/Proteus (merged being):

Reality Warping:

possessed the ability to reconfigure its surroundings into whatever shape and nature it desires.

Flight:

could defy gravity and soar with great speed

Invulnerability:

possessed resistance to all physical and energy attacks.

Telepathy

possessed near Omega-level telepathy.

Status

Known Relatives:

Mother(Erika Benson, Harness)

Citizenship:

Citizen of the United States, and still a minor.

Place of Birth:

Unrevealed.

Marital Status:

Single.

Occupation:

Deceased; former terrorist

Education:

Unrevealed

Characteristics

Gender:

Male

Age:

Undetermined, though considering his mutant powers had manifested, he was well into adolescense

Height:

5’1″

Weight:

65 lbs.; w/ Proteus energies: 700lbs

Eyes:

Brown; green when merged with Proteus.

Hair:

Brown

Alternate Realities

Piecemeal has yet to make an appearance in any alternate realities.

Creators

Piecmeal was created by Fabian Nicieza & Guang Yap.