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Tyrone Johnson and his brother Billy were running from the police after Tyrone stole a car radio to impress him. Billy was killed when one officer, Connors, reflexively shot him when an oil rig in Lake Borgne suddenly exploded. Tyrone jumped into the lake after his brother's body. While he was underwater, falling debris damaged the oil rig, releasing a wave of energy that imbued Tyrone with superhuman abilities related to shadows. Tyrone was instinctively drawn to a bright light coming from Tandy Bowen, a young girl trapped in a car sinking to the bottom of the lake when the same energy wave gave her powers relating to light. Tyrone and Tandy's powers worked together to free Tandy from the car, and the two children washed up safely on a beach.[3]

The police would falsify Billy's autopsy to make it appear he died with drugs in his system and was not shot by an officer. Although Tyrone was able to describe the officer who shot Billy, the police chief used security footage of Tyrone stealing the radio to discredit him and denied there was even an officer who fit that description. Out of grief over the loss of their oldest son, Tyrone's parents Otis and Adina Johnson put pressure on him to be perfect so their would be less of a chance that they lose him, too.[3]

Tyrone's powers would reawaken around a decade later when he randomly ran into Tandy at a party, although neither recognized the other. Tyrone chased Tandy after she pick-pocketed his wallet, catching up to her in a nearby cemetery. Their powers repelled the two teens from each other, but seeing their powers led them to recognize each other. That night, after Tyrone fell asleep, his powers transported him to the roof of the Roxxon building. He came across the officer who shot Billy and caught his name while on the way back to his house the next morning. The next night, Tyrone's powers transported him to the trunk of Connors' car. Tyrone attacked the corrupt detective, but when Connors grabbed him by his neck, Tyrone was dragged into his memory of the night he killed Billy. Tyrone's powers brought him back to his bedroom before Connors could shoot him.[3]

Tyrone skipped school the next day so he could follow Connors. That night, he stole his mother's gun and broke into Connors' home to kill him. However, Tyrone's powers took him away from Connors before he avenge Billy's death. Tyrone ended up in the middle of a street, with the bullet intended for Connors instead went through the windshield of a car driven by Tandy Bowen, causing her to crash.[4]

After a brief skirmish between the two, Tandy left for home and Tyrone did the same, running into his classmate Evita who, sensing his internal conflict revolving around Connors and his own newfound powers, took him to see her Aunt Chantelle, a voodoo priestess, for guidance. She advised he use various charms and spices to induce a fugue which would guide him. He did so, and it caused him to have a surreal vision of a young Tandy running away from her problems, which he forced her not to do. Tyrone awakened from the vision after succeeding at this and began a relationship with Evita. Later, however, he followed Tandy to the church where she hid out and confronted her about their connection and constant running into each other.[5]

The two shared information about their personal lives and issues, including the visions they had of each other, where he learned that while he was having the vision of a young Tandy, Tandy had a vision of him finding ways to kill Connors and was forced to stop him and help him take the path to justice. The two separated, with Tyrone taking Tandy's vision to heart and searching for new ways to get revenge on Connors without killing him. He falsified a bike theft by using his father's bolt cutters to cut the chain guarding his own bike, but became fearful that he would be incriminated for the falsification and fled the police department. His dad confronted him when he arrived back home, finding the stolen bolt cutters and fearing that his son was becoming a delinquent. He took his son to see the Wild Red Hawks, a Mardi Gras tribe which he was a part of and Billy had been before his death. Here, Tyrone was inexplicably drawn to an unfinished cloak which he later learned was designed and started by Billy as a potential Mardi Gras costume. Tyrone then sought his father's blessing to finish the cloak, which he eventually received.[6]

Tyrone later returned to the police department and asked for an officer by the name "O'Reilly," who met with him and agreed to investigate Connors, of whom she was also suspicious, under one condition: Tyrone was to stay away from the case. Tyrone reluctantly agreed, but went on to meet with a former friend of Billy's, Duane Porter, hoping he could find something out that could help him incriminate Connors.

Tyrone returned to his school to play in a basketball tournament, but during halftime, he accidentally teleported to a Roxxon party attended by Tandy. While flustered and confused at first, the two worked together to find out that the CEO of Roxxon, Peter Scarborough, was the one who defamed Tandy's father. Tyrone struggled to teleport back to the game in time, causing Tandy to push him over a railing down into a fountain on the floor below. Just before he could hit the bottom, Tyrone teleported back to the game. Throughout the remainder of the game, Tyrone viewed other players' fears accidentally and ended up throwing the game.

Tyrone left the game and ended up spending the night out with Evita. After this, Tyrone snuck back to Duane's place of work and found out that he was working with Connors and distributing various drugs, despite knowing that he shot and killed Billy.[7] In order to get closer to Connors, Tyrone began devising a plan to work for Duane. Frustrated that he couldn't seem to get in on the operation, Tyrone approached Tandy for help, who advised that he try earning Duane's trust by stealing a bag of drugs and returning it to Duane. Duane agreed to involve Tyrone in the business, and took him to meet with Connors. Connors departed to meet with Duane under the pretense of performing a vice drug bust, but was partnered with O'Reilly. Connors stalled O'Reilly so he could confront Duane about the stolen bag of drugs. He then set up a situation in which O'Reilly was forced to kill Duane so that it looked clean, but actually removed a link in the chain for Connors. Tyrone gave away his hiding spot, causing Connors to pursue him, but Tyrone escaped before any damage could be dealt. Tyrone teleported to Tandy's church to grieve Duane, where Tandy found him.[8]

Tandy tried to help Tyrone feel better, but approached him about a man, Ivan Hess, a former colleague of her father's, who was in a catatonic state. Tandy asked Tyrone to help her enter his mind for answers. Tyrone agreed and the two used their hope and fear viewing abilities simultaneously to enter his mindscape. Here, they found Ivan reliving the final few minutes of the rig explosion over and over again. Ivan remained optimistic and apathetic to the world around him, not remembering how much time has passed, his name, or the people in his life. The two also found out that the other employees on the doomed rig had been infected with the energy Roxxon was searching for and had been illustrated in Ivan's mind as psychopathic murderers that he called "Terrors." They learned from Ivan that the only way to end the explosion (and thereby end the repeating cycle) was to open the valves in the core. Tyrone used his powers to do this, but it failed because only Ivan could end the cycle in his own mind. Tyrone tried to convince Ivan to do it himself, but he remained ignorant to the problems at hand and was perfectly content to continue reliving the same few minutes again and again.

Meanwhile, Tandy found out that Ivan received a phone call every cycle from Tandy's father. Tyrone gave up on Ivan, making a deal with Tandy to both let go of the real Ivan at the same time. Tyrone let go, but Tandy did not, trapping herself in Ivan's mindscape so she could have infinite conversations with her father. Tyrone reentered Ivan's mind and convinced Tandy that the man on the phone was not her real father by asking who was in the backseat of his car. At the illustrated time in real life, this would have been Tandy, but her "father" responded that there was no one there, causing Tandy to hang up. The two worked together to encourage Ivan to enter the core and do what he needed to do to end the cycle, which he did. The rig collapsed, but Tandy and Tyrone were expelled from Ivan's mind as he returned to consciousness for the first time in eight years, though he has no memory of the cycle, Terrors, or Tandy and Tyrone. The two later listen to a tape of Billy rapping over young Tyrone's beatboxing.[1]

Tyrone later devised the perfect plan to incriminate Connors legally. He finished Billy's cloak and practiced using his powers with it, finding that he could easily control them with its help. He began to haunt Connors everywhere he went, cornering him near an industrial dock and forcing a confession out of him. O'Reilly then stepped in and arrested him for his crimes. Tyrone joined Tandy and her mother for the memorial of her father's death. During a period of time where the three were holding hands, Tyrone and Tandy entered Melissa's memory accidentally and found that Nathan was abusive to his wife. Tandy was disappointed by this and left.[2]

Tyrone's family received a notice of Connors' arrest for killing Billy. Despite Tyrone's victorious reaction, both of his parent's remained wary and therefore didn't react to it, choosing to remain impartial rather than get their hopes up. Disappointed and frustrated, Tyrone lashed out at another kid at school. This caused a confrontation with Father Delgado where Tyrone eventually saw Delgado's fear of his own drinking problem, and how it either killed a young child in the past or had the potential to do so in the future. During this vision, Tyrone was drawn into a church where he saw Tandy and her former boyfriend Liam getting married in Liam's hopes and Tandy about to steal this hope, which he prevented her from doing.

Tyrone returned to class, but was later confronted by Tandy in person, where she lashed out at him for interfering in her life. Evita ran into the two of them, realizing that Tandy was Tyrone's counterpart in some way. Tyrone went home, where his mother told him that she only wanted to protect him from the police. Suddenly, the police arrived to arrest Tyrone, who was framed for the murder of a police officer. Tyrone's mom helped him to flee the house.[9] Tyrone fled to the Wild Red Hawks headquarters, where he grabbed his cloak and teleported into the middle of a Mardi Gras celebration. O'Reilly showed up and attempted to help him escape, but both were arrested and taken into custody illegally by dirty cops.

Tyrone attempted to convince one such cop that they were innocent people who should not be killed by a corrupt cop, but this failed when another officer walked in before the two could be freed. The police station was subsequently attacked by a real-life Terror created by the bursting of different pipes containing the special Roxxon energy. The Terror infected several officers, giving Tyrone and O'Reilly the chance to escape. They helped to take down several Terrors before hiding out in the evidence room, where Tyrone's cloak was being kept. He donned the cloak and lured the Terrors into an interrogation room, teleporting away once they were locked in. He showed up directly in front of Tandy, who was being pursued by a Terrorized Mina Hess, before Tyrone Tasered her.

The two hid out in Tandy's church, where Tyrone lamented the fact that just when he had gotten his powers under control via the cloak, they were gone, as the cloak had been torn to shreds by the Terrors in the police station. Evita arrived after having broken into the church and informs the two that they are the modern Divine Pairing, a tradition dating back to the earliest known existence of the New Orleans area wherein two individuals are partnered by fate to save the city, but one always dies in the process. Shaken by this information but knowing what they had to do, Tandy gives Tyrone the hoodie he had been wearing the night of the oil rig explosion, which she had taken from him while they were still lying on the beach. Tyrone began using the hoodie to control his powers, which worked as well as the cloak.

The two headed for the core, but were attacked by Terrors. They did their best to fend them off, but were ultimately assisted by O'Reilly, who sniped the Terrors with mercy bullets. Just before they could reach the core, Connors showed up and threatened to kill Tandy, realizing he couldn't hit Tyrone. The two attacked him, with Tyrone teleporting him onto a rooftop and threatening to drop him, telling him that he should be "very, very afraid." He released that killing would make him just as bad as Connors, however, and let him go. Connors attempted to shoot Tyrone when he wasn't expecting it, but was suddenly absorbed into the shadows emanating from Tyrone's hoodie.

Tyrone met up with Tandy once more, realizing that he had to be the one of the Divine Pairing to die because he could get to the core the fastest. He then teleported to the core, attempting to turn it off but failing before Tandy arrived. Tandy tried to force Tyrone to flee, but Tyrone realized that the only way to stop the core was to combine their powers. The two clasped hands and absorbed the energy in the core, expelling it into the sky and saving the city.

Following this, Tyrone was forced to go underground due to his false accusation as a cop killer. He briefly teleported into his house to pack his belongings before teleporting to the roof of Tandy's church and setting up a new home there. Tandy then arrived to deliver him a care package from herself and her mom.[10]

Personality

Tyrone was an outgoing person as a child, but after witnessing the death of his brother, he became closed off to the world around him. This was only worsened by his being forced into several situations and institutions by his parents in their efforts to make sure he became an functional member of society. He was apprehensive about his powers at first, but retains a strong sense of justice and morality which guided him in using his powers to save his city with Tandy.

Attributes

Powers

  • Teleportation: Tyrone is capable of instantly moving between shadows over great distances.
  • Fear Viewing: Tyrone is capable of viewing the deepest fears of an individual in a hyper-realistic manner simply by touching an exposed part of their body.
  • Shadow Absorption: Tyrone was able to absorb Detective Connors into his shadows, though he did not have control over it.

Weaknesses

  • Limited control over his teleportation abilities.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

  • Cloak: Tyrone used an unfinished cloak made by his brother to help focus his powers.
  • Billy’s Hoodie: After his cloak was destroyed by Terrors, Tandy returned to Tyrone his brother’s hoodie. Like the cloak, Billy’s hoodie helped Tyrone to focus his powers.

Transportation

  • Teleportation

Notes

See Also

Links and References

References

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