The Shadow
Hero
These are characters for the campaign chronicled in the "The Shadow Knows!" Story Hour thread. The background material has been repeated from that thread to avoid confusion. Character sheets will be marked with the Mutants & Mastermind icon to distinguish them from discussion.
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The Shadow (Alexander Brighton, age 37) PL 12
Abilities:
Str: 16 (+3) Dex: 18 (+4) Con: 14 (+2)
Int: 18 (+4) Wis: 16 (+3) Cha: 14 (+2)
Dmg: +2 Fort: +2 Refl: +4 Will: +5 to +16 (see below)
BAB: +6 (+11 mental) BDB: +6 (+11 mental) (The GM ruled that mental attack and defense costs only 1.)
Attack: Melee: +9 Ranged: +10 Mental: +14
Defense: 20 (16 flat-footed), 24 mental (21 flat-footed)
Skills: Bought 2:1. Computers +5, Computers +5, Craft (Chemicals) +9, Diplomacy +9, Disable Device +5, Gather Information +11, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (LA) +5, Open Locks +6, Pilot +5, Repair +5, Science (Biology) +7, Science (Chemistry) +11, Science (Forensics) +7, Sense Motive +8, Shadowing +4, Sleight of Hand +5, Telepathy Use +8
Feats: Those marked with an "R" share the same Restricted Flaw as the Clouding Men's Minds power.
All-Around Sight (R. Affects Detect Minds rather than ordinary vision.)
Commlink ("Mental Link" Device with base's comm panel. It isn't really psionic, it just uses a hard-to-detect-or-jam medium other than radio.)
Connected
Counterattack
Darkvision (R. Basically very low-level passive ESP.)
Detect Minds (R)
Discriminatory (R. New feat that lets Detect Minds give more information than usual.)
Headquarters
Indomitable Will
Infamy
Iron Will
Martial Arts (GM-created feat that boosts unarmed damage.)
Minions
Networked (New feat - gives +4 to Connected rolls and to loyalty score.)
Point Blank Shot
Psychic Awareness (R)
Scientific Genius (GM-created feat that gives +2 to Science skills)
Sidekick (Carlos Gutierrez, a former gangbanger.)
Startle
Surprise Strike
Powers:
Telempathic Aura +11 (1 pp/rank) Source: Psionic
Aura of Menace (Super-Charisma)
Extra: Flexible (Can switch out ranks freely with the Mental Walls power stunt as a free action once per round)
Extra: Intimidating Presence
Flaw: Bad-Ass Charisma Only
Power Stunt:
Mental Walls (Amazing Will Save)
Extra: Affects Others
Extra: Triggered by mental contact
Flaws:
Social Awkwardness: The Shadow faces an either-or choice when using this power. For every 2 ranks he puts into Aura of Menace, he takes -1 on "nice-guy" Charisma. For every 2 ranks he puts into Mental Walls, he takes -1 on Sense Motive, Telepathy Use, and optionally those Charisma skills which involve "reading" an audience. And he has to have all 11 ranks of the power engaged at all times... (Others who are shielded by his Mental Walls take the penalty from them too.)
Restricted: The Shadow cannot use this power when fighting off his Involuntary Mentalist Weakness - he is so inwardly focussed on controlling his emotions that he can neither control his aura nor shield effectively against external threats. (In fact, he takes -5 on "nice-guy" Charisma with no corresponding benefit, much as if he'd taken the Disturbing Weakness.)
Clouding Men's Minds +11 (4 pp/rank) Source: Psionic
Mental Invisibility (Illusion)
Extra: Area
Extra: Subtle
Extra: Selective (remember, this Extra has a special meaning for Illusion)
Extra: Vanish. The Shadow can make people or things in his area "unnoticeable" to all senses.
Flaw: Range: Touch
Flaw: Limited: Creatures Only
Flaw: Limited: Vanish Only. He can't produce any other illusions.
Telepathy
Extra: Memory Alteration
Extra: Subtle
Flaw (2): Mind-Meld. Every round the Shadow is in someone's mind at a level below "surface thoughts", he has to make a Telepathy Use check opposed by the target's Sense Motive. If the Shadow loses, the target becomes aware of his mental invasion and things devolve into a battle of wills: Each round they make opposed Will saves. The winner can read the loser's mind (at the level the Shadow attained or lower) for that round! The Shadow can't break the contact before the target gets the round's information from him. If the target beats the Shadow by more than 5, or wins twice in a row, they can choose to force the Shadow out of their mind entirely.
Telempathy (Mind Control)
Extra: Trauma Induction (Mind Blank with the twist that a telepath can recover the memory by rooting around on the Unconscious level. Hypnosis and possibly other mundane therapies will work too.)
Flaw: Limited: Negative Emotion + Simple Phrase. ie, "Fear of the dark"
Psychic Assault (Mental Blast)
Extra: Duration: Concentration
Flaw: Slow
Flaw: No Shields (The Shadow has to lower his Mental Walls to zero to use this power.)
Power Stunts:
Manifest Sound: The Shadow can allow sounds made by "vanished" people or things to be normally audible, but in a muted, apparently directionless way that cannot be used for targeting.
Mental Link: The Shadow need not speak to use his Telempathy.
Flaw:
Restricted: The Shadow believes he has to ingest a drug derived from a rare African herb to cloud men's minds. (One dose lasts for about two hours.) This effect is actually psychosomatic; it is possible that simply getting intoxicated in more usual fashion (or even taking a placebo, if he honestly believes in it) may produce the state of mind he associates with using this power. I leave it in the GM's hands.
Gadgets +2 Source: Super-Science
Some of these are chemicals the Shadow has whipped up for himself... but the rest are the products of one his minions, one of the few geniuses capable of super-science. Hal Garrity is something of a cross between Forge and the Rain Man - he makes his living repairing lawn mowers and other household items, and creates amazing technological toys in his spare time. (It must be said that sometimes one's lawn mower comes back with unexpected features, too!
Scientific terminology is nowhere near catching up to what he can do - when asked to explain how his gadgets work, he ends up just saying in frustration, "Oh, never mind!" The idea of equipping the local "Batman" with gimmicks to provide that extra edge keeps a big smile on his face.
Weaknesses: Note that this GM has a house rule allowing 5 point Weaknesses in some situations.
With Friends Like These... (5): The Shadow's family, friends, sidekick, and minions are somewhat trouble-prone and not infrequently require his help. (I gave the GM PLENTIFUL hooks to screw me over with, which is the main reason he allowed this Weakness.)
Involuntary Mentalist: When the Shadow suffers severe stress (not combat, more often personal stuff - like, oh, his family or friends being threatened... he starts to lose his grip on his powers. He has to make a Will save vs. DC 15, +1 for each round the stressful situation is present. If he fails, the GM may take control of his mental powers for that round (including making free actions like ending sustained powers) and use one of his partial actions to target anybody suitable within range, most likely the person his subconscious rationalizes is causing the stress. (No matter how inappropriate this might be...) The involuntary use of powers is never Slow or Subtle.
The Shadow can attempt to suppress an involuntary attack on another person, but this is a full-round action requiring a Will save against DC 10, and causes him to in effect take Mental Blast damage as he struggles within his own mind.
Once he "blows his top" for a round, the Will save goes back to 15, but saves still have to be made every round until either the stressful situation is dealt with in some way or he loses consciousness.
During the time that the Shadow is fighting off this Weakness, he takes -5 to "nice-guy" Charisma, much as if he had taken the Disturbing Weakness, though his actual appearance does not change. His Aura of Menace and Mental Walls are unavailable for the duration.
Equipment: The GM does not require points to be spent for items readily available to civilians. The Shadow typically wears a bulletproof vest, and carries a heavy pistol, a sap, and a variety of fighting and throwing knives.
Background:
Alex Brighton did not have a happy childhood. Nobody seemed to like him, but they couldn't explain why... "There's just something WRONG about him, but I can't put my finger on it!" they'd say. He had to work five times as hard to get the same recognition and approval as others. Life, he decided, just isn't fair.
It wasn't. Alex was born a rare homozygous telepath - he inherited telepathy genes from both parents. (His dad was a consummate salesman - an unconscious Mind Controller - and his mom a sensitive soul with much insight into others and a not-entirely-unfounded belief that she could predict the future with Tarot cards. They broke up when Alex was 7 - Alex's dad couldn't appreciate a woman with mental shields for long...) His powers raged out of control, projecting his emotions - especially the darker ones not suited for public display - to everyone around him. Meanwhile he would occasionally "overhear" the ugly thoughts others directed at him in response, which only alienated him further.
The solution he instinctively hit on worked in the sense that he survived and remained sane, but it didn't leave him any better adjusted socially. He trained himself to suppress and control his emotions as much as possible so there was nothing left to project... Of course he wasn't entirely successful. When agitated, the steep mental walls he'd erected would slip and he'd "zap" people again. "Most of the time he's a cold fish, and the rest he's a hair-raising freak!"
A brilliant young man, he entered university early, majoring in chemistry. There he met Jennifer, a psych major who found him irresistibly fascinating. (She was genetically "mindblind", immune to telepathic vibes.) She saw a shy and retiring young man, but one with a nice smile and (once you got to know him) a magnetic personality. She couldn't figure out why everyone treated him so badly for no apparent reason... Alex for his part found friendship, and then love, intoxicating. Within a couple of years, they were married.
Alex got a good job at a major pharmaceutical company, researching flora and fauna from around the world to discover, purify, assess, and alter new drugs. Meanwhile, he and Jennifer had a little son named David. After making a name for himself with a highly promising new cancer therapy, he gained a coveted promotion despite his social awkwardness. Life was good, far better than he'd ever dared to hope for - he had a loving family, challenging work, the satisfaction of helping others, and, as he learned to shield better and better, even a few friends. He had the money to indulge a few hobbies, like growing rare tropical plants (something he'd started doing for his Ph.D. dissertation) and collecting tapes of old radio shows. Including "The Shadow".
Then Alex's world came crashing down about his ears when Jennifer was raped and murdered by a hopped-up burglar. To add insult to injury, the guy got off on a technicality! Alex snapped and went on a rampage through his precious tropicals, destroying them to vent his rage... but when the juice soaked into his hands, he started to shake and then had a seizure.
When he got to his feet, he discovered to his astonishment that he could "hear" the thoughts of his terrified son in the next room. When he stumbled outside, he heard a neighbor thinking that he must be drunk... when Alex glared at him, the man's face was suffused with terror and he ran for his life. Alex, while not entirely understanding, smiled grimly. He could use this.
The murderer died that night, and he was very, very frightened before he died. (The coroner ended up ruling the case a truly bizarre suicide. You don't want to know.) While stalking him, Alex discovered something new - when he didn't want to be seen, he WASN'T. He was like the Shadow, clouding men's minds!
And why SHOULD some other guy lose his wife, some other little boy his mommy? There were more animals out there. Somebody should do something about it... somebody like him. Who else knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?
Alex didn't do anything rash. He took a sabbatical from his job, and used his chemical knowledge to isolate and purify the compound that had opened the door in his mind, altering it so it would no longer impair his judgement or give him hallucinations like it had that first night. (The seizure turned out to be due to another, unrelated compound.)
He got a gun and learned how to use it. He took karate classes, and then classes in other, more esoteric martial arts. He turned out to be something of a natural. (He has genes for biokinetic powers as well, but they're latent as they don't mix well with telepathy. But they make him stronger and faster than a guy his age and size ought to be.)
And when he felt ready, he donned black clothes, pulled on black gloves, swept a black cloak about his shoulders, and put on a battered black hat. Then he took a small white pill. The Shadow lived again... his eerie, mocking laughter from thin air striking fear into the hearts of the criminals of Los Angeles. "The Shadow knows!" (He also muffles the lower part of his face with a black bandanna, and uses a tiny amount of Illusion to fuzz his features, making them entirely nondescript save for the blazing intensity of his eyes.)
Five years now he has stalked the streets, a year or two of which alongside the tormented mystic known as the Forbidden, and there have been many changes. He has put together an enormous network of informers - criminal scum who fear him more than they fear higher-level criminal scum. And he has found a few people who approve of what he does and are willing to help him.
David is seventeen now, and starting to worry his father. The boy is much too strong, much too fast, and heals ridiculously quickly. (The biokinetic genes that skipped the last couple generations of telepaths came out with a vengeance in him - Jennifer's mindblindness in effect canceled out the telepathy genes David got from his dad.) David has inherited his father's stern sense of justice, and might try his hand at fighting crime more rashly than his father. His raging biokinetic hormones (mentioned in no biochemistry text) make for a fairly stormy relationship at times, too.
Still, David has received an object lesson that may give him pause. He was kidnapped and severely roughed up by a syndicate who discovered the Shadow's secret identity about a year ago. (The Shadow and the Forbidden utterly dismantled it - nobody who learned anything compromising is still alive.) He of course healed the physical damage rapidly but the psychic scars are another matter.
David found out about his dad's powers and "night life" at that time, and still isn't sure how he feels about it. It has become an edgy subject for the two of them, a sleeping dog neither cares to disturb. It is pretty much a given, though, that David would NOT approve of Carlos, who has been the Shadow's sidekick for the last eight months or so.
Carlos is a former gangbanger (18 years old) who turned over a new leaf after a nasty run-in with the Shadow. He caught the Shadow's notice by his immunity to the Shadow's mental invisibility... Carlos also has compellingly accurate, if unpleasant, dreams about the past and future, and often gets flashes of danger moments before it occurs. At a second run-in - the Shadow rescuing Carlos from gang members beating him up for trying to go legit - he managed to save both their lives by giving warning of a sniper bullet.
The boy had absolutely nowhere to go (a truly awful home situation, and in the neighborhood of his old gang to boot) and the Shadow liked his spirit, so he brought him to live at the base and support him in his work. He doesn't let Carlos go out on patrol or mix up in the rough stuff (though Carlos has had to come pull his bacon out of the fire once or twice) - mostly Carlos feeds him information from the base computer through his (Garrity-provided) commlink and offers him what he can from his unpredictable psychic talents.
Anyway, Carlos all but worships the Shadow - the closest thing to a father he's ever had - and he and David would likely feel highly threatened by each other should they ever meet, which Alex tries to make sure doesn't happen.
Alex has determined that the drug he uses is not addictive... but the same cannot be said for the Shadow persona it makes possible. Alex doesn't LIKE the Shadow, but he NEEDS the Shadow - needs to let the rage and anguish he feels out of its cage sometimes. (His Psychic Assault is nothing more sophisticated than exposing the target to his swirling confusion of bottled-up emotions all at once.) He keeps his two lives - and thus David and Carlos - as separate as he possibly can while still remaining sane. It's gotten a bit precarious at times...
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The Shadow (Alexander Brighton, age 37) PL 12
Abilities:
Str: 16 (+3) Dex: 18 (+4) Con: 14 (+2)
Int: 18 (+4) Wis: 16 (+3) Cha: 14 (+2)
Dmg: +2 Fort: +2 Refl: +4 Will: +5 to +16 (see below)
BAB: +6 (+11 mental) BDB: +6 (+11 mental) (The GM ruled that mental attack and defense costs only 1.)
Attack: Melee: +9 Ranged: +10 Mental: +14
Defense: 20 (16 flat-footed), 24 mental (21 flat-footed)
Skills: Bought 2:1. Computers +5, Computers +5, Craft (Chemicals) +9, Diplomacy +9, Disable Device +5, Gather Information +11, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (LA) +5, Open Locks +6, Pilot +5, Repair +5, Science (Biology) +7, Science (Chemistry) +11, Science (Forensics) +7, Sense Motive +8, Shadowing +4, Sleight of Hand +5, Telepathy Use +8
Feats: Those marked with an "R" share the same Restricted Flaw as the Clouding Men's Minds power.
All-Around Sight (R. Affects Detect Minds rather than ordinary vision.)
Commlink ("Mental Link" Device with base's comm panel. It isn't really psionic, it just uses a hard-to-detect-or-jam medium other than radio.)
Connected
Counterattack
Darkvision (R. Basically very low-level passive ESP.)
Detect Minds (R)
Discriminatory (R. New feat that lets Detect Minds give more information than usual.)
Headquarters
Indomitable Will
Infamy
Iron Will
Martial Arts (GM-created feat that boosts unarmed damage.)
Minions
Networked (New feat - gives +4 to Connected rolls and to loyalty score.)
Point Blank Shot
Psychic Awareness (R)
Scientific Genius (GM-created feat that gives +2 to Science skills)
Sidekick (Carlos Gutierrez, a former gangbanger.)
Startle
Surprise Strike
Powers:
Telempathic Aura +11 (1 pp/rank) Source: Psionic
Aura of Menace (Super-Charisma)
Extra: Flexible (Can switch out ranks freely with the Mental Walls power stunt as a free action once per round)
Extra: Intimidating Presence
Flaw: Bad-Ass Charisma Only
Power Stunt:
Mental Walls (Amazing Will Save)
Extra: Affects Others
Extra: Triggered by mental contact
Flaws:
Social Awkwardness: The Shadow faces an either-or choice when using this power. For every 2 ranks he puts into Aura of Menace, he takes -1 on "nice-guy" Charisma. For every 2 ranks he puts into Mental Walls, he takes -1 on Sense Motive, Telepathy Use, and optionally those Charisma skills which involve "reading" an audience. And he has to have all 11 ranks of the power engaged at all times... (Others who are shielded by his Mental Walls take the penalty from them too.)
Restricted: The Shadow cannot use this power when fighting off his Involuntary Mentalist Weakness - he is so inwardly focussed on controlling his emotions that he can neither control his aura nor shield effectively against external threats. (In fact, he takes -5 on "nice-guy" Charisma with no corresponding benefit, much as if he'd taken the Disturbing Weakness.)
Clouding Men's Minds +11 (4 pp/rank) Source: Psionic
Mental Invisibility (Illusion)
Extra: Area
Extra: Subtle
Extra: Selective (remember, this Extra has a special meaning for Illusion)
Extra: Vanish. The Shadow can make people or things in his area "unnoticeable" to all senses.
Flaw: Range: Touch
Flaw: Limited: Creatures Only
Flaw: Limited: Vanish Only. He can't produce any other illusions.
Telepathy
Extra: Memory Alteration
Extra: Subtle
Flaw (2): Mind-Meld. Every round the Shadow is in someone's mind at a level below "surface thoughts", he has to make a Telepathy Use check opposed by the target's Sense Motive. If the Shadow loses, the target becomes aware of his mental invasion and things devolve into a battle of wills: Each round they make opposed Will saves. The winner can read the loser's mind (at the level the Shadow attained or lower) for that round! The Shadow can't break the contact before the target gets the round's information from him. If the target beats the Shadow by more than 5, or wins twice in a row, they can choose to force the Shadow out of their mind entirely.
Telempathy (Mind Control)
Extra: Trauma Induction (Mind Blank with the twist that a telepath can recover the memory by rooting around on the Unconscious level. Hypnosis and possibly other mundane therapies will work too.)
Flaw: Limited: Negative Emotion + Simple Phrase. ie, "Fear of the dark"
Psychic Assault (Mental Blast)
Extra: Duration: Concentration
Flaw: Slow
Flaw: No Shields (The Shadow has to lower his Mental Walls to zero to use this power.)
Power Stunts:
Manifest Sound: The Shadow can allow sounds made by "vanished" people or things to be normally audible, but in a muted, apparently directionless way that cannot be used for targeting.
Mental Link: The Shadow need not speak to use his Telempathy.
Flaw:
Restricted: The Shadow believes he has to ingest a drug derived from a rare African herb to cloud men's minds. (One dose lasts for about two hours.) This effect is actually psychosomatic; it is possible that simply getting intoxicated in more usual fashion (or even taking a placebo, if he honestly believes in it) may produce the state of mind he associates with using this power. I leave it in the GM's hands.
Gadgets +2 Source: Super-Science
Some of these are chemicals the Shadow has whipped up for himself... but the rest are the products of one his minions, one of the few geniuses capable of super-science. Hal Garrity is something of a cross between Forge and the Rain Man - he makes his living repairing lawn mowers and other household items, and creates amazing technological toys in his spare time. (It must be said that sometimes one's lawn mower comes back with unexpected features, too!
Scientific terminology is nowhere near catching up to what he can do - when asked to explain how his gadgets work, he ends up just saying in frustration, "Oh, never mind!" The idea of equipping the local "Batman" with gimmicks to provide that extra edge keeps a big smile on his face. Weaknesses: Note that this GM has a house rule allowing 5 point Weaknesses in some situations.
With Friends Like These... (5): The Shadow's family, friends, sidekick, and minions are somewhat trouble-prone and not infrequently require his help. (I gave the GM PLENTIFUL hooks to screw me over with, which is the main reason he allowed this Weakness.)
Involuntary Mentalist: When the Shadow suffers severe stress (not combat, more often personal stuff - like, oh, his family or friends being threatened...
he starts to lose his grip on his powers. He has to make a Will save vs. DC 15, +1 for each round the stressful situation is present. If he fails, the GM may take control of his mental powers for that round (including making free actions like ending sustained powers) and use one of his partial actions to target anybody suitable within range, most likely the person his subconscious rationalizes is causing the stress. (No matter how inappropriate this might be...) The involuntary use of powers is never Slow or Subtle. The Shadow can attempt to suppress an involuntary attack on another person, but this is a full-round action requiring a Will save against DC 10, and causes him to in effect take Mental Blast damage as he struggles within his own mind.
Once he "blows his top" for a round, the Will save goes back to 15, but saves still have to be made every round until either the stressful situation is dealt with in some way or he loses consciousness.
During the time that the Shadow is fighting off this Weakness, he takes -5 to "nice-guy" Charisma, much as if he had taken the Disturbing Weakness, though his actual appearance does not change. His Aura of Menace and Mental Walls are unavailable for the duration.
Equipment: The GM does not require points to be spent for items readily available to civilians. The Shadow typically wears a bulletproof vest, and carries a heavy pistol, a sap, and a variety of fighting and throwing knives.
Background:
Alex Brighton did not have a happy childhood. Nobody seemed to like him, but they couldn't explain why... "There's just something WRONG about him, but I can't put my finger on it!" they'd say. He had to work five times as hard to get the same recognition and approval as others. Life, he decided, just isn't fair.
It wasn't. Alex was born a rare homozygous telepath - he inherited telepathy genes from both parents. (His dad was a consummate salesman - an unconscious Mind Controller - and his mom a sensitive soul with much insight into others and a not-entirely-unfounded belief that she could predict the future with Tarot cards. They broke up when Alex was 7 - Alex's dad couldn't appreciate a woman with mental shields for long...) His powers raged out of control, projecting his emotions - especially the darker ones not suited for public display - to everyone around him. Meanwhile he would occasionally "overhear" the ugly thoughts others directed at him in response, which only alienated him further.
The solution he instinctively hit on worked in the sense that he survived and remained sane, but it didn't leave him any better adjusted socially. He trained himself to suppress and control his emotions as much as possible so there was nothing left to project... Of course he wasn't entirely successful. When agitated, the steep mental walls he'd erected would slip and he'd "zap" people again. "Most of the time he's a cold fish, and the rest he's a hair-raising freak!"
A brilliant young man, he entered university early, majoring in chemistry. There he met Jennifer, a psych major who found him irresistibly fascinating. (She was genetically "mindblind", immune to telepathic vibes.) She saw a shy and retiring young man, but one with a nice smile and (once you got to know him) a magnetic personality. She couldn't figure out why everyone treated him so badly for no apparent reason... Alex for his part found friendship, and then love, intoxicating. Within a couple of years, they were married.
Alex got a good job at a major pharmaceutical company, researching flora and fauna from around the world to discover, purify, assess, and alter new drugs. Meanwhile, he and Jennifer had a little son named David. After making a name for himself with a highly promising new cancer therapy, he gained a coveted promotion despite his social awkwardness. Life was good, far better than he'd ever dared to hope for - he had a loving family, challenging work, the satisfaction of helping others, and, as he learned to shield better and better, even a few friends. He had the money to indulge a few hobbies, like growing rare tropical plants (something he'd started doing for his Ph.D. dissertation) and collecting tapes of old radio shows. Including "The Shadow".
Then Alex's world came crashing down about his ears when Jennifer was raped and murdered by a hopped-up burglar. To add insult to injury, the guy got off on a technicality! Alex snapped and went on a rampage through his precious tropicals, destroying them to vent his rage... but when the juice soaked into his hands, he started to shake and then had a seizure.
When he got to his feet, he discovered to his astonishment that he could "hear" the thoughts of his terrified son in the next room. When he stumbled outside, he heard a neighbor thinking that he must be drunk... when Alex glared at him, the man's face was suffused with terror and he ran for his life. Alex, while not entirely understanding, smiled grimly. He could use this.
The murderer died that night, and he was very, very frightened before he died. (The coroner ended up ruling the case a truly bizarre suicide. You don't want to know.) While stalking him, Alex discovered something new - when he didn't want to be seen, he WASN'T. He was like the Shadow, clouding men's minds!
And why SHOULD some other guy lose his wife, some other little boy his mommy? There were more animals out there. Somebody should do something about it... somebody like him. Who else knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?
Alex didn't do anything rash. He took a sabbatical from his job, and used his chemical knowledge to isolate and purify the compound that had opened the door in his mind, altering it so it would no longer impair his judgement or give him hallucinations like it had that first night. (The seizure turned out to be due to another, unrelated compound.)
He got a gun and learned how to use it. He took karate classes, and then classes in other, more esoteric martial arts. He turned out to be something of a natural. (He has genes for biokinetic powers as well, but they're latent as they don't mix well with telepathy. But they make him stronger and faster than a guy his age and size ought to be.)
And when he felt ready, he donned black clothes, pulled on black gloves, swept a black cloak about his shoulders, and put on a battered black hat. Then he took a small white pill. The Shadow lived again... his eerie, mocking laughter from thin air striking fear into the hearts of the criminals of Los Angeles. "The Shadow knows!" (He also muffles the lower part of his face with a black bandanna, and uses a tiny amount of Illusion to fuzz his features, making them entirely nondescript save for the blazing intensity of his eyes.)
Five years now he has stalked the streets, a year or two of which alongside the tormented mystic known as the Forbidden, and there have been many changes. He has put together an enormous network of informers - criminal scum who fear him more than they fear higher-level criminal scum. And he has found a few people who approve of what he does and are willing to help him.
David is seventeen now, and starting to worry his father. The boy is much too strong, much too fast, and heals ridiculously quickly. (The biokinetic genes that skipped the last couple generations of telepaths came out with a vengeance in him - Jennifer's mindblindness in effect canceled out the telepathy genes David got from his dad.) David has inherited his father's stern sense of justice, and might try his hand at fighting crime more rashly than his father. His raging biokinetic hormones (mentioned in no biochemistry text) make for a fairly stormy relationship at times, too.
Still, David has received an object lesson that may give him pause. He was kidnapped and severely roughed up by a syndicate who discovered the Shadow's secret identity about a year ago. (The Shadow and the Forbidden utterly dismantled it - nobody who learned anything compromising is still alive.) He of course healed the physical damage rapidly but the psychic scars are another matter.
David found out about his dad's powers and "night life" at that time, and still isn't sure how he feels about it. It has become an edgy subject for the two of them, a sleeping dog neither cares to disturb. It is pretty much a given, though, that David would NOT approve of Carlos, who has been the Shadow's sidekick for the last eight months or so.
Carlos is a former gangbanger (18 years old) who turned over a new leaf after a nasty run-in with the Shadow. He caught the Shadow's notice by his immunity to the Shadow's mental invisibility... Carlos also has compellingly accurate, if unpleasant, dreams about the past and future, and often gets flashes of danger moments before it occurs. At a second run-in - the Shadow rescuing Carlos from gang members beating him up for trying to go legit - he managed to save both their lives by giving warning of a sniper bullet.
The boy had absolutely nowhere to go (a truly awful home situation, and in the neighborhood of his old gang to boot) and the Shadow liked his spirit, so he brought him to live at the base and support him in his work. He doesn't let Carlos go out on patrol or mix up in the rough stuff (though Carlos has had to come pull his bacon out of the fire once or twice) - mostly Carlos feeds him information from the base computer through his (Garrity-provided) commlink and offers him what he can from his unpredictable psychic talents.
Anyway, Carlos all but worships the Shadow - the closest thing to a father he's ever had - and he and David would likely feel highly threatened by each other should they ever meet, which Alex tries to make sure doesn't happen.
Alex has determined that the drug he uses is not addictive... but the same cannot be said for the Shadow persona it makes possible. Alex doesn't LIKE the Shadow, but he NEEDS the Shadow - needs to let the rage and anguish he feels out of its cage sometimes. (His Psychic Assault is nothing more sophisticated than exposing the target to his swirling confusion of bottled-up emotions all at once.) He keeps his two lives - and thus David and Carlos - as separate as he possibly can while still remaining sane. It's gotten a bit precarious at times...
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