Shaft

__** Dondre Cook / “Shaft” **__



__**History **__

Dondre was born in New York City in a neighborhood in Brooklyn. His mother is an office manager and his father is a city worker. His father had once worked as an electrician in the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. He was exposed to radiation during that power plant’s meltdown.

Dondre’s parents met later in life after having both been divorced. He has older half-siblings on his mother’s side. He has a “half-sibling” from his father’s first marriage (his father’s first wife had a child with another man before they were married and his father adopted the child).

Growing up, Dondre was close to his father’s grandmother who lived in the same neighborhood. She was almost as much of a parent as his mother and father. She encouraged him to do well and stay out of trouble, and Dondre mostly did so. He was more interested in video games and movies than school, but he did well enough to earn C’s most of the time.

One day, when playing kickball at school, Dondre was running all-out to make it home before he was tagged out… and his feet sank into the ground! He was tunneling! The gym teacher, in shock, called the play dead. All the kids were yelling and pointing at him. Panicked and anxious at all the attention, Dondre ran off.

Dondre confessed to his grandmother what had happened. His grandmother called his parents and they had a family meeting. They had heard of Xavier’s school and they called the mutant school for information. When Xavier’s school offered him a spot, his parents encouraged Dondre to take it. Dondre agreed.

Dondre entered Xavier’s school as a ninth grader. He kept in close contact with his parents and grandmother. He continued to achieve C’s in most classes. He made some friends and strove to fit in. Then, towards the end of his freshman year, the X-Men left for an off-world mission.


 * School’s Out / High School Never Ends **

Shortly after the X-Men left, the remaining teachers (Angel and Nightcrawler) were put into a temporal coma by a mysterious group called the Travelers. They were apparently after Jean Grey’s body and stole her coffin. The remaining seniors took charge of the school. A few days later, Dondre broke school rules by using his powers without supervision. He investigated the area where the Travelers had taken the coffin. He was shocked to find that the coffin – and Jean Grey’s coffin – were still there! He informed the seniors of this news.


 * Welcome to Paradise / Hotel California **

At the end of his freshman year, the seniors that took over Xavier’s school were offered the chance to run a new west coast mutant school, Academy X. The seniors offered any students at Xavier’s school the chance to transfer to the west coast school. Dondre, excited to be close to Hollywood, agreed.

Towards the end of his first semester, Dondre was one member of a group of sophomores who began to believe that their teachers were keeping a girl locked underground. The sophomores decide to investigate. Dondre creates a tunnel to te chamber where the girl is held. When the sophomores investigate further, they accidentally released Cassandra Nova. Nova was imprisoned in the school’s Cerebra unit and had been using her mental powers to trick the sophomores into freeing her. Nova takes over Jubilee’s body and flees, but not before killing one of the sophomores (Gunther). When escaping from Nova, the sophomores run into students from rival mutant school “Academy M.” Dondre helps the sophomores in the ensuing brawl, knocking out two of his opponents.


 * My Generation / Children’s Crusade **

After the Purifier bombing of Academy X that claims the life of headmaster Ruth Aldine, Dondre’s parents call the school about withdrawing Dondre. Headmaster Dane Lightfoot is able to talk his parents out of it. He says that Purifiers are targeting and killing mutants across the country and Dondre is actually safer at Academy X.

Later, when Cameron asks Dondre to create a tunnel for him to leave the school, Dondre gets suspicious. He tells the teachers about Cameron’s request. The teachers discover that David’s secret combat team snuck out of the school and destroyed two of Norman Osborn’s Sentinels. Cameron was trying to help them sneak back into the school.


 * Valley of Lost Souls / Empire of the Damned **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dondre is promoted to prefect for his junior year. As part of this, he takes the codename “Shaft”. Dondre later uses his ability to help bury the liquefied remains of the dead students that rose during the Necrosha event. Dondre then uses his mutant power to create an earthen trench around the school in case zombies outside the school attempt to storm the building.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dondre is the student staff member that’s in the security office when Wolverine and Midnight (his adopted daughter, Amiko) enter the school. They attack the Academy X staff members, providing a distraction for the Masters of Silence to assassinate Dagan and Agape. It is later revealed that Wolverine and Midnight were brainwashed by Hellfire Club: Tokyo.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bloodines / Live Forever **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At the start of the new semester, Dane discussed with Dondre his plans for creating a permanent escape tunnel from the school. Dondre agrees to help, but the project doesn’t move forward immediately due to other issues that arise at the school.

__**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Powers and Abilities **__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Tunneling//: Dondre has the ability to move through the earth as if it were air, leaving a tunnel behind him. The tunnel is not stable, however, and will collapse shortly afterward if it is not supported in some way.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Earth Control//: Dondre has shown a limited ability to move earth beyond simply tunneling. This was shown when he helped bury the remains of the dead mutants that rose during the Necrosha event.