Rictor recovered but his troubles were only just beginning. When the Scarlet Witch had a breakdown, she used her abilities to depower most of the world’s mutants. Unfortunately, Rictor was one of the many millions who woke up powerless and he took the event badly. Whereas before he could feel the Earth and the tectonic plates moving beneath his feet, he was now cut off from it all and he couldn’t take it. Standing atop an apartment block, Ric was ready to throw himself off and end it all like so many other mutants were doing. However, he drew the attention of a news reporter and ended up all over the TV.
Thankfully, his X-Corporation teammate Multiple Man, aka Jamie Madrox, spotted the report and rushed down to see him. Madrox sent one of his dupes over to talk to him and the depressed Rictor explained his troubles. As the two men chatted, they were joined by Wolfsbane, who gave Rictor a lecture on heaven and hell. Eventually, Rictor changed his mind and decided to come down peacefully. However, the dupe that Madrox sent across wasn’t as benign as first thought and he pushed Rictor off the roof. Rictor would have fallen to his death if it hadn’t been for the timely arrival of Monet St. Croix, who caught him midair.
Rictor drove back to Madrox’s newly formed X-Factor detective agency but was reluctant to join up given he had no powers. Whilst Monet pointed out that wasn’t really a problem for the line of work, he explained that he couldn’t bare being around a bunch of mutants, 
constantly reminding him of the things he had lost. He drove off again, but not before receiving a coupon for cheaper fuel from a mysterious young girl named Layla Miller, who apparently “knew stuff.” When he stopped to redeem the coupon at a nearby fuel station, he ended up saving a girl from her abusive boyfriend. This gave Rictor the boost he needed and he returned to X-Factor to take them up on their job offer. Rictor and Madrox managed to sort out the issue of his dupe pushing him off the ledge and Rictor joined the team. [X-Factor (3rd series) #1-2]
X-Factor’s base was located in the Mutant Town district and since the mass depowerment, attacks on ex-mutants were common. Soon after joining, Rictor heard a commotion outside and discovered a bunch of men beating up another young man. Rictor went to intervene but his fellow teammates Wolfsbane and Strong Guy beat him to the punch and he slunk off to help the injured man as he felt useless without his powers. The fight was a ruse though and the “injured” man knocked Rictor out once they got inside the building. The man was an assassin that had been sent by Damian Tryp, a businessman with whom X-Factor had recently crossed swords. The assassin was going to slit Rictor’s throat and make it look like a suicide but he was stopped by Layla, the young girl whom Rictor had met a while before and who had also joined the agency. Tryp could see the future and recently things had started to go wrong, as X-Factor kept interfering in his business. He assumed Rictor was to blame, as he was an unknown addition to X-Factor, but it was in fact Layla, who also had some knowledge of the future. Whilst Rictor was out cold, Layla manipulated the assassin into accidentally getting killed. [X-Factor (3rd series) #3]
After the issue with the assassin, Rictor was feeling a bit lost and confided in another of his teammates, Siryn, who had been through her own battles with depression. He declined her offer of getting breakfast at a local diner but changed his mind a short while later. However, when he went down, he found that Siryn had not arrived and when he followed the route back to the agency he discovered her bloody communications device in an alley. Following his instincts, he managed to find Siryn, who was being held captive by a crazy man who had also lost his powers on M-Day. In the resulting fight, Rictor ended up killing the man and saving Siryn. [X-Factor (3rd series) #4-5]
After Siryn’s attack, tensions were fraught and Rictor was being his usual hot-headed self. Only this time, he correctly spotted that Layla was more involved in things than previously thought. 
Whilst the others leapt to Layla defense, it was in vain as she revealed Rictor was right and she had known that Siryn would get attacked as well as the fact that Rictor would be targeted by an assassin. The others saw Layla as an innocent girl but Rictor was more than aware that she was manipulating them all for some big endgame plan. He made her well aware that he would be watching her very closely. [X-Factor (3rd series) #6]
When X-Factor found out it had been the Scarlet Witch who depowered the world’s mutants, they were not exactly happy to see her brother Quicksilver arrive a short while later. Quicksilver claimed he could give an ex-mutant their powers back and, whilst he was initially rebuffed by X-Factor, Rictor’s curiosity eventually got the better of him. 
Whilst Quicksilver had also been depowered, he had stolen crystals responsible for the Terrigen Mists, which the Inhumans use to gain their powers, and he was now offering to share them out. However, many of those that he did repower ended up regretting it, as their restored powers went out of control. When Rictor quizzed him about it, Quicksilver said that only the worthy were deserving of restored powers. Rictor turned him down once again but Quicksilver stuck around and acted as a bodyguard to the depowered mutant as he still had plans for him. [X-Factor (3rd series) #10-11]
Ever since joining X-Factor, Rictor had been trying to find a way to make himself valuable to the team and show that he wasn't useless. He soon discovered he had a natural gift with computers and this skill came in very handy when he and Siryn infiltrated the offices of Damien Tryp. Rictor hacked into their systems and uncovered evidence of their underhanded dealings. The two didn't go unnoticed and were soon captured, but they managed to escape thanks to one of Madrox's unpredictable dupes blowing up the building. [X-Factor (3rd series) #12]
After the explosive confrontation with Damian Tryp, Madrox decided it was time they all saw a therapist to work through their current issues. Rictor was his usual confrontational self but eventually he broke down and discussed his recent troubles. [X-Factor (3rd series) #13]
Soon after, when Rictor and Wolfsbane were walking through Mutant Town, they came across a man being beaten up by two others. They intervened but didn’t realize it was part of a SHIELD operation and they were subsequently arrested. After being quizzed on the whereabouts of the newly resurfaced X-Cell, a mutant terrorist group, they were released. However, not long after, Rictor was knocked out and kidnapped by Reaper, a member of X-Cell. It was Quicksilver who saved him but it became apparent that he also had designs on Rictor for his own schemes. Quicksilver said he could save all the mutants and, after some initial reservations, Rictor started to listen to him. Quicksilver claimed that because of Rictor’s previous connection to the Earth, he could act as a conduit between the Terrigen Crystals in himself and the depowered mutants. Rictor joined him in his endeavor and ended up repowering a number of X-Cell members. When the other members of X-Factor came to rescue Rictor, they clashed with X-Cell. After exerting their powers, 
the newly powered mutants starting to spontaneously combust, proving that Quicksilver’s method was flawed. Quicksilver managed to get ahold of Layla Miller, whom he blamed for interfering in his plans, but Rictor intervened. He used what little power he had left to expel the remaining Terrigen Crystals from Quicksilver’s body and then subsequently collapsed through exhaustion. [X-Factor (3rd series) #17-20]
Afterwards, Rictor sunk into depression again, as he had been so close to getting his powers back, only for them to be ripped away from him at the last moment. As the other members of X-Factor were dealing with their own personal crises, Wolfsbane decided to care for Rictor. They started to get close to one another like when they were both with the New Mutants. Eventually, they kissed and very quickly their relationship became intimate. [X-Factor (3rd series) #21]
X-Factor was soon approached by Josef Huber, who claimed that he had a plan to make the government classify mutants as an endangered species. He convinced everyone that having a Million Mutant March would help solidify the cause but Rictor was wary of the whole thing and didn’t trust Huber. 
Once again he was proven correct and it turned out that Huber was looking to kill every mutant on the planet. His powers were a form of mimicry but he could not switch it off and he had little control over his acquired powers. He theorized that with no mutants left on the planet, the powers would fade and he could lead a normal life again. After dispatching the rest of the X-Factor team, Huber fought Rictor, but he found that the young man was immune to any mutant power he used against him. After a frustrating battle, Huber retreated, not knowing that the cause of Rictor’s immunity were some residual Terrigen Crystals that had worked their way into Rictor’s system. After the battle, and unbeknownst to Rictor, the Crystals simply dissolved away. [X-Factor (3rd series) #22-24]