Jeong "Melina" Mi-yeon is a young Mutant, currently unhoused in New York City.
정미연
Jeong Mi-yeon
Melina Jeong
Codenames
Null
Mutant
South Korean
Female
May 23rd, 2004
Alive
MCU
X-Men
The Keystone Initiative (formerly)
Parents
Jeong Dae-hyun (father)
Han Ji-hye (mother)
Single
4'11" (147 cm)
82lbs (37 kg)
Dark Brown
Black and purple
Fair olive
Jang Yeeun
Rei
Biography
Childhood
2004: Melina, born Jeong Mi-yeon, was born in Daegu, South Korea on May 23rd, 2004. Her parents, Jeong Dae-hyun was a professor of International Relations at a university, and her mother, Jeong Ji-hye worked in tech finance. She had an upper-middle-class upbringing, with limited emotional availablity.
2010: At 6 years old, Melina’s Shadow Merging abilities manifest fully for the first time. Her parents have absolutely no idea what to do with these apparently powers and they desperately try to hide them from the public, forbidding her from using them, fearing social stigma and government intervention. Melina’s powers often triggered from strong emotions, especially as a child, forcing her into an expensive private school.
Avengers:
2016: In April, the Sokovia Accords passed following the Battle of Sokovia. Melina’s parents knew that they should register her, but chose not to, thinking no one knew about her abilities.
Late 2016: Melina’s parents were approached by a group calling themselves the Keystone Initiative; they presented themselves as a “safe alternative” for families afraid of the Accords and registering their powered children. They coerced families, including Melina’s, into surrendering their powered children, offering them ‘training and protection’. In actuality, the Keystone Initiative was a talent acquisition program backed by private intelligence leaders, with the intent to train or contain powered individuals.
Life at Keystone
After briefly being held at a Keystone facility in South Korea, was relocated to the United States for conditioning. They struggled to fully control Melina, mostly due to her young age, unpredictable powers, and resistance to training. Her powers made her almost impossible to train; she needed shadows to use them, but if there were shadows, she would just hide in them and never come out. Forcing her out of the shadows disoriented her, sometimes making her ill or confused. She even began entering her own shadow, knowing it would force her immediately back out and cause her to feel terrible because it would prevent them being able to use her.
The Snap & Her Escape
When Thanos Snapped and caused half the population to vanish, it caused all Keystone facilities across the globe into chaos. With half the staff suddenly gone, the facility Melina was at collapsed completely in less than two weeks. She, and several other
Current Situation
Presently, Melina is
Personality
Melina is a
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Shadow Merging
Melina possesses the ability to merge into shadows, becoming part of them rather than merely turning invisible. This allows her to move unseen, reposition herself stealthily, and evade detection. However, her power comes with distinct limitations, quirks, and weaknesses, preventing it from being overpowered.
- Intangibility: She ceases to physically exist in the real world while merged.
- Undetectable: No sight, sound, scent, or heat signature.
- Entry/Exit Timing: Instantaneous, but must be manually timed for precise entry.
- Navigation: Can move within connected shadows, ignoring gravity.
- Weaknesses: Bright light immediately expels her, and she cannot interact with the real world while merged.
Shroud Mode
Melina can blend into darkness without becoming intangible.
- Enhanced Stealth: Becomes unnaturally difficult to notice in dim lighting.
- Can Move & Interact: Unlike Shadow Merging, she can still touch objects and speak.
- Disruptions: Bright light breaks the effect, making her fully visible.
- Detection Limits: Can still be found via sound, scent, infrared, and motion tracking.
Passive Abilities and Mutations
Due to the nature of her powers, Melina possesses subtle physical and sensory adaptations that make her more attuned to darkness and stealth. These abilities are always active and provide additional utility beyond her core powers.
- Night-Adaptive Vision: Her eyes adjust to low light faster than normal humans, allowing her to see clearly in near-total darkness.
- Suppressed Involuntary Movements: She does not engage in involuntary movements, such as fidgeting or subtle shifts in posture, when focused, making her eerily still when hiding.
- Shadow Distortion: Her presence subtly affects surrounding shadows, causing them to stretch, merge unnaturally, or pull toward her. This is a passive effect she cannot fully control.
- Cold Adaptation: Merging into shadows lowers her body temperature, making her less sensitive to cold environments but causing her to feel colder than average after prolonged use.
Weaknesses and Limitations
- Bright Light: Fully expels her from shadows and breaks Shroud Mode instantly.
- Physical Constraints: Can only merge into shadows she could physically fit inside.
- Tracking Risks: AI and energy-mapping tech can register entry/exit points.
- No Healing While Merged: Wounds remain unchanged, preventing passive recovery.
- Forced Ejection: If a shadow disappears (e.g., due to changing light), she is thrown out violently.
Utility and Tactical Applications
- High-Speed Shadow Entry: Can enter a shadow at full speed to negate fall or impact damage.
- Shadow Traversal: Can move up walls, across ceilings, and through impossible gaps via shadows.
- Pause Certain Reactions: Being intangible disrupts many natural reactions and processes, allowing for her to temporarily prevent chemical reactions (eg, pausing an explosion) or delaying many processes (eg, bleeding). They will continue immediately once tangible again.
- Psychological Unease: Her unnatural stillness, the unusual way shadows respond to her, and her ability to disappear into shadows can cause unease and even paranoia in those around her.
Abilities
Multilingualism
Melina is fluent in her first language, Korean, as well as English. She can read Japanese.
Equipment
tbd
Facilities
tbd