Name: Christopher Flore
AKA: No superhero name, though his other half refers to itself as Gloom.
Powers: Christopher's power allows his shadow to disconnect from his body and travel against flat surfaces. What his shadow does to other shadows affects whatever object or person the shadow is connected to. Therefore, if the shadow knocks over the shadow of a lamp, the lamp will also fall over. In total darkness, his shadow is free to move through the air and do as it wishes.
Because Christopher suffers from a split personality, his more aggressive personality is projected into the shadow, which identifies itself as Gloom. He argues with it, and holds conversations with it no one else can hear. Once the shadow leaves his body, Christopher has no awareness of what happens to it.
History: Christopher was born into a loving home, well to do, and wanted for nothing. His father, Senator George Flore of Kentucky, came up for reelection the same year as his 18th birthday.
Unfortunately, this was also the year that Christopher's mutant powers decided to reveal themselves. The extreme shame and revulsion Christopher's father felt at the discovery caused Christopher to repress his Shadow-self, disassociating with it. The power would not go away with sheer willpower, though, and it started to act out in accordance with the thoughts and desires of Christopher's subconscious mind. It started out innocently enough...the shadow played pranks on Christopher's teachers and mischievously stalked his best friend and secret crush, Darla Dane. Eventually, he had to confess his ability to her, noting his lack of control over how the shadow-self acted. Darla urged him to seek psychological help, but fearing the public reprisal his father would feel, Christopher resisted. His problems became worse.
On the eve of the election, the Senator's opponent, David Devlin, urged him to drop out of the race and concede, threatening to reveal the truth about Christopher's fragile state of mind and his mutation. Senator Flore refused, citing pictures he himself had of his opponent with an underage prostitute.
The next day, the body of Senator Flore washed up on the shore of their palatial, lakeside estate.
The gristly murder of his father split Christopher's mind completely in two, creating a completely separate, hostile and aggressive personality that Christopher projected into the shadow-self. It split from Christopher, hunted down those that killed his father, and strangled their shadows as they stood in the political headquarters of the new Senator-his fathers former opponent. To the people there and watching on TV, it was as if Senator Devlin's two closest aide's simply fell to the ground and choked to death one after another.
As the chaos ensued and Christopher watched, only he knew what was truly happening. Fear filled him and he ran away from home, paranoid and fearing what would happen if anyone realized that the murderous shadow was connected to him. He tried to send the shadow away, but it no longer listened to him even in the least. And being separated for too long weakened them both.
What is a runaway who argues with his own shadow to do? After time with the homeless and downtrodden, Christopher discovered that his Shadow-personality possessed a twisted sense of justice, protecting the bums that took him in-but with the same bloodthirsty vengeance that killed his father's murderers.
In desperation, nearly a year later, he wound up on the doorstep of his best friend, Darla Dane. She urged him to get help, and to turn himself in. She also feared the physical changes taking place in her friend, as the colors started fading out of half of his body...it was as if the Shadow-self was taking up residence in his physical body.
Gloom continued to mount a battle against corruption and evil, carving out a bloody path and creating a legend that was beginning to haunt the streets. Drug dealers and other unsavory types began to fear the shadows they had so long used as cover for their actions. And as the killing continued, Christopher grew more and more despondent. He began to believe that the only way to stop the Gloom was to kill himself.
Darla felt she had no choice but to call the authorities herself. Christopher was taken down and locked up, his abilities brought to light and used as a banner reason by the new Senator that mutants should be a controlled populace. Pelted by bright lights all day to prevent him from forming a shadow, Christopher's two halves sit....and wait...and despair.
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