Warlock first appears in New Mutants #18, and the basic reason he's running is pretty straightforward: his father expects them to fight to the death.

Warlock first appears in New Mutants #18, and the basic reason he's running is pretty straightforward: his father expects them to fight to the death. That's how the Technarchy works. Warlock doesn't want to kill his father, and he doesn't want his father to kill him. So he leaves. His body is techno-organic. He can change its shape, interact with machinery and infect other matter with the transmode virus, turning it into something he can feed on. On paper, that's a pretty terrifying creature to have land near a school. But Warlock is frightened, hungry and trying to get away from a violent parent. The New Mutants have more in common with him than his appearance would suggest. His compassion is a problem by his people's standards. He cares whether something he's consuming is alive. That matters when he's trying to survive among people who are made of exactly the kind of matter his body can use for food.