The Shadow

DC/Marvel: Age of Infinite Heroes
Name Kent Allard II, aka Lamont Cranston Codename The Shadow Species Human Age 30 Affiliation Solo Powers/Abilities ESP Hypnosis False Memories Mental Suggestions Obfuscation Illusions Mental Shielding Mind Reading

Kent Allard II is a man of high society. He has the reputation of a famous game hunter in his spare time, though how much of that exists is questionable as he is also a member of the Wayne Enterprises board of directors. He is also a connoisseur of fine tobacco and exotic liqueurs.

The Shadow was until recently a mixture of urban legend and old underworld history. His return has sent shivers through the spines of the assorted mafias as he is a known vigilante with a steady gun hand who is rumored to have strange abilities, even by modern standards with mutants and the like.

Background

Kent Allard II, The Shadow!

The story of the newest man to learn what evil lies in the hearts of men begins in the Cranston Estate. He is the son of Lamont Cranston and Margot Lane, the product of a late blooming romantic fling. Eventually, Margot left leaving him solely in the hands of Lamont to raise in the hopes that raising a son would steer him away from his self appointed crusade somehow. Instead, it gave him the means to carry it on for another generation. Kent Allard the second was raised Lamont Edmund Cranston.

The man who would become the newest Shadow was raised in luxury, but it can hardly be said comfort as well. He was brought up in a strict regimen of classical education and high standards. Tutors were brought in for him from across America, and occasionally other countries around the world, granting him a world class education. He would graduate in the eyes of New York by the time he was fifteen, already having a university level education. It would be around this time that reality makes itself known.

A knock on the door the week after his graduation in his fifteenth year arrives in advance of a loud crash in the Cranston Estate. Lamont's guest was none other than Nicholas Fury, and this did not set well with him as evidenced by shards of glass from a hurled glass. There was no fear between them, but a great deal of enmnity. This was the stage set for Kent learning the story of his father, and thus his own. He was, in fact, Kent Allard the Second AND Lamont Edmund Cranston.

The next three years were spent between father and son in a whirl of revelations. Nick's offer had been a full pardon for all past crimes and a revision of existing records in exchange for his son joining SHIELD upon his 18th birthday. The Cranston estate would become the Allard estate in the eyes of the state and federal government, he would not have to die an old man in hiding from his government. Further, certain other formalities would be performed that should have been all those years ago such as converting his dishonorable discharge as a wanted traitor over to an Honorable and shredding those warrants. The elder Allard would spend his time teaching his son about what he really did while hiding under the nose of the government as Cranston and The Shadow, and show him how. By the time SHIELD came to collect their new recruit, the mantle would be past on.

Kent Allard the Second was recruited by SHIELD for their espionage program. Nick Fury handpicked him for this in accordance with his instincts that the elder Cranston would have passed on some of his own hard won skills, and he was not wrong. Being a man of the big picture however, he did not spend any time watching Kent develop into an agent. That was the job of his handlers, who eventually fingered him for the counter-espionage division.

Kent would spend years touring the globe. He would stalk spies and turncoats in Germany, Russia, and even China. The specter of the Shadow would periodically fall upon agents of the KGB and Hydra alike during those years. It would not be until fairly recently that he turned his baleful gaze upon the ugly reality of the more common breed of crime.

Kent had taken a paramour in the form of a field partner. They had gotten together during an assignment in Belgium the previous year, and were then on assignment in New York. An outing to a cafe led to tragedy when a carbomb went off, killing her and injuring him. He later learned that the blast had been a mob hit on someone who just happened to also be there, and his partner was only one of several victims. Thus did he resolve that the Shadow was still needed after all these years.

Kent put in for transfer to the Corporate Espionage department, drawing an assignment in Wayne Enterprises thus bringing him back home. He was set up with an identity that made use of his education, the owner of a pharmaceutical company that would be sold out to Wayne Enterprises as a buy-in. Patiently, he worked his way up the ladder until his wealth and influence earned him a seat on the board of directors. There he would remain, public identity established at home. All the while, he spent his personal time getting familiar with the Shadow's assets in the form of assorted safehouses between Gotham and New York and an impressive gun collection. The old costume was refurbished and appropriately updated. The Shadow was back, and the mafia would once more learn that the fruit of crime can be bitter indeed.

During the Crisis, Kent was still with Counter Espionage. That was before he had formally become the Shadow in earnest and it was in those days merely a tool for anonymously disposing of Hydra fodder or the like. While the heroes of the world were defending reality against nightmares from beyond and the worlds were merging in strange ways, he was monitoring Hydra agents in Moscow.

These days are considerably less exciting. He sits in on board meetings and reviews stock reports and the like for discrepencies, and occasionally checks in on certain departments. It's his nights that are interesting, ironically.

Personality

• Determined: Kent has a lot to live up to, and takes his inheritance seriously. His father was one of the original vigilantes of the New York and Gotham area, and this is a point of pride for the Allard family. Spies, gangsters, politicians, in his father's day they all learned to fear The Shadow and for the right reasons. He is all too aware of how the world has declined since then.

• Morose: Kent is inclined to see the worst in people, and expect the least out of them. He tends to be pessimistic in most situations, having learned early on what people are capable of. The life of a detective is not conducive to cheer. He truly believes that he has an understanding of the nature of darkness, and it most often wears the guise of ordinary men.

• Dapper: Kent believes in keeping up appearances, and takes this seriously. His keen eye for detail is as often on himself as his surroundings and he endeavors to look his best at all times when out of costume. People don't respect money, they respect people with money who respect themselves.

• Analytical: Kent is a born detective with a sharp eye and mind for details. He endeavors to be astute and aware in his dealings with people, knowing from his father what the average person is capable of. He is the opposite of trusting as a rule of thumb. Even when trust is earned, it still warrants verification. Patterns are a fact of nature, and any deviation deserves suspicion.

• Chivalrous: Kent may not be trusting, but he believes in standards and protocol. He takes himself seriously as a man, and abides such things as holding doors for women and standing for the anthem. Respect costs nothing and is freely given until someone proves unworthy. He especially has no patience for bullies of any sort.

Logs

• TBA