Silhouette

Silhouette is a young superhero member of the Externals.

### Relatives

Horace Hodge (Grandfather), Goldie Hodge (Grandmother), Simon Winters (Father), Catherine Hodge (Mother)

## Origins

Willow Hodge was raised by her grandparents in the quiet suburb of Mossy Rock. Although she never knew her parents, who she believed had died in a car crash shortly before her 1st birthday, Willow was adored by her grandparents and led a fairly uneventful life. Her grandfather was a soon to be retired mechanic - so the two would spend hours fixing up cars in the garage; while her grandmother was a doting domestic goddess who loved caring for the family. In truth, Willow was the daughter of renowned politician Simon Winters and his first wife, Catherine. After her early death; Catherine's parents intervened in their granddaughter's care - worried about the worsening mental state of Simon. Whilst initially determined to find his daughter - Simon's villainous alter ego soon squashed these thoughts and continued their quest to dominate the city's political landscape.

## Change

Closing up the cafe she worked at part time one evening, Willow was left alone to clean the floors. A huge explosion of glass and debris smashed through the front of the building, knocking Willow to her feet. Standing over her was a creature like she'd never seen before - a pitch black cloak made of shadow. And in its hands - an elderly man gasping for air. The creature threw down the man next to Willow, and in his last breath - he touched her arm reaching out for help. Willow screamed in fear and grief; but the next thing she knew, the creature lunged for her with a long blade. It plunged deep into her stomach, until the empty eyes of the creature were directly in front of her own. Suddenly everything changed - the creature began to dissipate and the pain in Willow's stomach slowly subsided. Within moments, the creature was gone and Willow was unharmed - but left with the dead man in a mess of debris. Shocked and distraught, she was soon tended to by emergency services and eventually her grandparents. Every test said she was fine, despite her story about what had happened. It wasn't until the next morning the true devastation was revealed across the city and Willow was counted as the many civilians caught in the crossfire during the Night of the Netherworlders.

## Hidden Depths

Life after this event wasn't the same. Although Willow tried to continue life as normal; every evening when she went to sleep - she would see the eyes of the dying man beside her. These nightmares would plague her for months - leading her into therapy and drug treatments to try and stop them. She found herself more withdrawn and unable to engage in the things that made her happy before. Her studies had to be put on hold as she tackled these demons, living her life with insomnia and dependent on her medication to help her through. On the anniversary of the Night of the Netherworlders; Willow watched a documentary about some of the fallout from the event, and saw the survivors now living more freely than she could dream. With no other option, she tracked down the help of multiple heroes to decipher the mystery. It took the joint efforts of Lifecry, Attaya, Delirium & Zero to uncover the truth behind Willow's problem. Willow was an Ortuschild with the ability power absorption without ever realising it. The combination of the trauma of the elderly man's death (himself an unknown superpower) and the physical attack by the Netherworlder had trapped their life force inside of Willow's body without her knowing. Unlocking this knowledge caused an explosion of energy similar to that of the Netherworlders; which the collective heroes had to combat to save Willow.

## Powers & Abilities

### Powers

Silhouette can absorb powers & memories from others through her own aura. This power is now dormant because of her trauma.

### Restrictions

As a result of serious trauma caused during the Night of the Netherworlders, Silhouette can now create, shape and manipulate Corvus energy - all sourced via a compound of familiar bloodlines & attack by the Netherworlders.

## Uneventful Life

Once the explosion had subsided, Willow was left with some control over these unlocked powers. She was now basically the human embodiment of a Netherworlder - permanently bonded with these abilities. Willow asked for help with controlling these abilities; and Zero offered her a place with his team as they had more experience with younger heroes. Willow took the name Silhouette and joined the Externals.

It slowly came to light that the elderly man that she had met on that night was in fact the 'hollowed out' shell of her father; who had secretly been kept alive by the machinations of his second wife, Anjelica Winters. Although his mental state was fragile; he was able to track down his long-lost daughter in order to tell her the truth of their connection.