Simon Leflore
 

Home: Oak Ridge, TN

Age: 20

Weight: 180

Height: 6’2”

Mutant Factor Abilities: Elemental control of Air (gases): gusts of air to help him jump and swim (he hopes to fly one day), hardened air as a physical barrier or as a weapon, some recycling of air

Institute Biographical Profile:

 If it hadn’t been for World War II, Simon (Simi to family and friends) wouldn’t even be here.  His grandparents moved to what would later be Oak Ridge, TN when it was still the Manhattan Engineering District, the Manhattan Project.  They were all scientists and engineers tasked with the separation and purification of uranium-235.  They chose to use the process of gaseous diffusion.  Would the choice of this process come back to them through their grandchild?  In any event, two pairs of young people met and fell in love during that turbulent time in a top secret city.  Eventually their unions led to children, two of which Francesca Micoli and Henry Leflore, in turn met and fell in love. 

Henry and Francesca were high school sweethearts, went to college together, graduated, and married.  Francesca began teaching, while Henry went into business.  After several years of trying to conceive, Francesca finally gave birth to Henry Gaston, Gus.  He was a precocious child (teaching himself to read at the age of two was only the beginning) even if a bit introverted, and the Leflores doted on him as they thought he would be their only child.  Eight years later they were pleasantly surprised by the birth of their second son Simon. 

Simi was not Gus.  Simi was very extroverted, constantly in trouble, and very much his own little boss.  While exceptionally bright, he was no match for Gus there, so he tried to excel in more athletic pursuits.  He did well at most sports, but loved swimming.  He found that he could swim faster than most and rarely needed to come up for air.  He would later realize this was related to his powers (recycling air in his lungs and using expelled air to help propel himself) and give up competitive swimming.

Growing up in Oak Ridge was very lucky for Gus and Simi.  Being a town of scientists and Ph.D.s, no one really thought Gus’ intelligence or Simi’s athletic ability were that unusual…after all, so many of the children in town were exceptional.  Surely it was just a result of the gene pool.  Well, it was genetic, but not for the reasons the assumed.  The increase in radiation exposure in that region had stimulated mutations in the citizens.  Gus started college at 14, Simi graduated 4 months after his 16^th birthday and went on to college, dreaming of becoming a doctor.  By that time Gus was already working on his second Ph.D.  Simi really took to the freedom of college.  That was where he started dating in earnest. 

While volunteering at the university hospital he met a young orderly named Jim, several months later a Croatian exchange student named Michel, then in his sophomore year, he found a real match in classmate from psychology, Joe.  Everything changed for Simi at the beginning of his Junior year.  He and Joe were walking through campus when some construction scaffolding collapsed right next to them.  When the dust cleared, 4 people were injured including Joe with a broken arm, but there was not even a speck of dust on Simi.  It seemed the accident had triggered a reflexive use of his powers.  He had hardened the air around him and most of Joe so that the debris bounced off of them for the most part.  Simi started helping the wounded hoping no one would notice, but that was not to be.  One week later, there was a knock at Simi’s door.  He remembers opening the door, then waking up in a cell.  He had been taken by the Bystanders.  He was tested, beaten and interrogated for months until he was rescued.  Ironically, their testing only helped him learn more about his powers and become stronger.  In their attempt to study him before killing him, the Bystanders only made him that much more dangerous as an enemy.

Institute Biological Profile:

While he doesn’t possess super strength or invulnerability in and of himself, Simi has used his control of the air to his advantage.  He has made it harder for physical things to damage him by hardening a shell of air around his body, he’s packed more punch than he should by using a hardened column of air, etc.  His years of swimming have left him in great physical condition, but nothing beyond the human standard.  He is in good health and shows no signs of any known disease.

Institute Psychological Profile:

Surprisingly, Simi is a fairly upbeat and friendly person in spite of his ordeal.  He still has occasional nightmares and rare bouts of depression related to the loss of his former life, his treatment at the hands of the Bystanders, etc.  He contacted his parents briefly to let them know he was alive and safe, but could not return home out of concern for their safety, and they gave him some disturbing news.  His brother Gus had also been taken, but by the government.  Gus had always had a very authoritarian, military mindset, and he had taken to government service, even though his intelligence was now being used to hunt down and neutralize other mutants like himself and his brother.  This has only added to Simi’s fragility.  In the absence of family, he will need the support of good friends, but his recent experiences have made him wary of opening up too quickly.  While he is friendly and seemingly open to most people very quickly, this is only his budding ‘bedside manner.’  His true feelings and emotions tend to stay locked away.  We will have to wait and see how well he can truly open himself to others.