Benji closed his eyes as he brainstormed how to respond. He knew it was a delicate matter and wanted to treat it as such to increase the chances of her opening up. “I wish I could give up my powers to someone that wanted them and take up acting instead. That would be a weight off my shoulders.” The man chuckled at how deep the words just felt coming off his lips. “I would love to have the freedom to do as I wish and be insignificant, but now that I have the powers I do, I don’t want to just waste them when I can do good.” Benji knew these words were very hero like but they were true. He didn’t want to waste the powers gifted at birth when they could do good for humanity.
“I understand why you don’t want to be here and I don’t blame you. I think the concept of the rehabilitation program is a good one, but the execution is all wrong. I believe they should only have young children and people our age that want to change in the program. It’s essentially therapy for people our age. You can’t force someone into it, or it’s counterproductive. And to my point for the kids, if you want to implement good behavior, the best time is early on when they’re excited about school and making friends.” A big smile grew on Benji’s face as he paused and reminisced on childhood memories. It quickly faded though as the memories of losing his mother during those times came flooding in and a tear started to form. “You’re right, they would suppress your powers. I would only think of that as a compliment. Being strong is good, regardless of how you use it.” Benji knew the words were true but he still hated letting them leave his lips. They were letting the door wide open for her to just walk away unchanged.
“As far as my life story, its pretty boring. My parents are Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. My mom died while I was young.” Benji unintentionally paused and the tear started to run down his cheek. “With my dad being Spiderman, he wasn’t exactly around a lot or awake enough to do much when he was so I learned to do a lot on my own. Other than that, I didn’t really start getting any of my powers until my mid teens. Let me tell you, that was that a time of isolation at the start. I didn’t know what was going on, and I was to afraid to talk about it. Once my dad found out, that’s when he took me under his wing to learn about my powers. It was the most time I ever had with my dad, and they’re honestly some of my fondest memories. But anyways, after that, I finished out high school. I didn’t go to a normal college, so I spent some time working first before coming here. I wanted to fill my time with something useful so I did volunteer work. That about brings us to where we are now, other than my first few years. They were pretty uneventful though. Oh and I’ve never been in a relationship. Not that it matters but its usually a question that gets brought up so I wanted to just get ahead of it.” He blushed at the thought that he really just said this out loud to a woman. Benji couldn’t have been more embarrassed at the moment. It was at that time he finally noticed a tear had run down his cheek due to the cool line on his warm rosy cheeks. “Okay, I did my part. It’s your turn.”
Clara was taken aback by the admission from a practical stranger, not just any stranger either - a hero. It wasn’t often that she heard them admitting that they would give up their powers if they could and pursue a different dream. It just wasn’t in their handbook or whatever they got once they graduated. Instead they were made to bear the weight of the world on their shoulders, acting as if it had no negative effects on them. She knew that couldn’t be the truth of it though. She had watched her father and mother struggle for her entire childhood. It was hard to take so much responsibility on. Even Atlas struggled, and they were no titans.
Again Clara was surprised by Benji. He was unlike any of the other heroes she had met, any of the sponsors she had been given. She wondered if that was the reason he had been assigned to her. It seemed strategic now that he was speaking. A thought-out play in this game of chess she had going on with the program runners. Blinking, she leaned forward to speak. “Don’t you think it would be bad to have young children in a program like this though? Forced away from their parents just so that you can feel safer and like you’re doing something good? Who’s to say that the young child puled into this program would even turn out bad before this? You can’t play god.” Clarissa had turned out nothing like how her parents had always dreamed and hoped that she would. She didn’t agree with the program now, but she agreed even less with aw program that involved children. “I do.” She replied blankly. Clara knew that she was powerful, especially when it came to the program and running away. It would be easy with her powers. She was a flight risk if she really wanted to be, but being hunted and dragged back to prison didn’t sound like very much fun.
Clarissa went to stop him, not wanting to hear a boring story about his life, but before she could he continued on and she was stuck to listen. She grew uncomfortable as Benji began to cry, uncertain on how to make it stop or how to comfort the stranger. “My parents sent me to Xavier’s when I was of age. I ran away pretty quickly.” She left out the bullying, not wanting to get into it with him or anyone else. “My grandfather found me and I took after him. He raised me. Now I’m here.” She gestured around the pair. “And now I’m your problem.” It was a very vague description of her life, not ready to give him any details.
