Montague "Monty" Bonaventure was born into the life of luxury, the first born son of Maxamillion "Max" Bonaventure and his wife, Lucinda. The Bonaventures were a wealthy family, what people often describe as old money - a family rich for so long they get richer just by having money. Monty never wanted for anything as a child.
Except, maybe, some brains. It was clear from day one that Monty was not the brightest child. While other kids were reading and writing, he was eating glue. Or at least, that's how his father would put it. In truth, Monty was unmotivated and not naturally intellectual. He was capable, but lazy. His father was disappointed by this. His mother just felt blessed to have a child.
Where Monty may have failed in intellectual pursuits, it was clear he was a charmer. Getting caught and weaseling his way out of punishment with a dimple in his cheek and a twinkle in his eye was almost a daily routine for him on the Bonaventure Estate in the Upper West Side of New York's Manhattan borough.
School for Monty, while not intellectually stimulating, was a blast. He attended the finest private schools money can buy. He was surrounded by kids his own age from similar economic backgrounds, but he was one of the richest. In a place like private schools, this held a lot of clout and with that and his natural charm, he quickly grew in popularity.
Another area Monty excelled at was athletics. While he had numerous tutors growing up - ranging from piano and cello to tennis and polo - the athletic endeavors appealed to him. He excelled at them, especially compared to his school marks. He was particularly good at baseball, excelling in all areas of the game to the level he considered going professional.
That, though, was the silly dream of a twelve year old child. The reality, Monty discovered as he grew older, was that he would never have to really work a day in his life. Everything about his life was a facade. Everything. The tutors, the private schools, the fancy estate house, the money - all of it. And he loved it.
Once the realization of his wealth and status occured to a young teenage Monty, he put it to good use. He used his position of wealth and the power of his name to convince the less priviledged children in school to do his work for him. He started to focus his attention on the ladies, putting his charm to good use.
By the time he graduated high school, he already had a reputation of being a player, of taking girls out to fancy restaurants, buying them fancy things and then never calling them after he got exactly what he wanted. He had every intention of doing this as long as he pleased, but his father had other ideas.
After all, while much of the lifestyle might be a facade, while a piece of paper that claims Monty has a degree might not actually be needed to serve him later in life, he would not have his son coast through life entirely. He would not have his son be an embarassment to the Bonaventure name. So after pulling some strings, he got his son enrolled in Columbia University.
Monty was full of resentment, but weighed the chances of being cut off from the family money over spending four years in college and decided the latter to be the better move. While he may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, he does have what many so-called intellectuals lack - common sense. He settled into a program studying history. History is important to the Bonaventure legacy, after all, and he felt he should appeal to his father.
College was a lot like private school, except with more poor people, and thus easier to get them to do his work for them. He did what he always did, coast on his money, looks and influence. Everything was going according to plan. That was until the bomb went off. Money, power - they don't do a damned thing to prevent such an event from changing your life.
For one thing, his father was killed in the explosion. Visiting Midtown for a brunch with old friends, he was atomized instantly. His mother was more fortunate, but only barely. Also out on the town, she was shopping in the Upper East Side when the bomb hit. The building she was in took heavy damage, and she was severely injured.
It was the first time in Monty's life he felt panic. Real, genuine panic. Not the panic that your parents might discover you took the third BMW out for a drive and wrecked it when you were 15. The type of panic that strips you to your bare essence and leaves you unable to think or act. He was making out with a girl when the bomb hit, and was watching the media frenzy unfold after when he got the call about his family.
It was a chaotic time, the events between the bomb and Monty ending up in the hospital at his mother's bedside are lost in the blur. But the aftermat was clear. His father was dead, leaving him the eldest male heir of the Bonaventure fortune. His mother lay in a coma, who may never wake up. And all he concerned himself with was money. Influence. Sex.
Many things changed that day, including Monty's attitude. While he remains snobbish, arrogant and prideful, he is concerned with life and appreciates it. He actively wants to participate in and help the world recover. It is also a good thing that he never blamed the Evolved for the event, because that ended up being exactly what he was.
He woke up one day to find another exact copy of himself asleep next to him. Or almost exact. While wearing the same sleepwear, with the same haircut.. the same physical appearance, this second Monty was the embodiment of fear. The original, real Monty did not feel any fear at all, but wasn't able to calm the doppelganger down.
Finally, unsure of what to do, Monty reached for the other. When they touched, the other disappeared. He was alone, but now he felt fear again. Scared, but not willing to admit to himself just yet what happened, he went about his days and tried to push the thought of what happened out of conscious thought.
But it continued to happen, every few days - a different emotion manifesting in the duplicate each time. On a few occasions there was more than one copy. Monty had no choice but to admit it - he was Evolved. While he did not blame Evolved for the bomb or fear them, he understood social fears well. He knew being Evolved would undermine is social status.
So he went about his life, quietly figuring out the nature of his ability on his own via experimentation and research. The research was slow going, owing to a lack of book smarts. But experimentation was hands on and effective as the years ticked by.
Come 2009, still coasting himself through school on the work of others (while being nicer about it now!), his secret was discovered by one of his professors: Rupert Carmichael. Luckily for Monty, they had a few things in common. Rupert kept Monty's secret, but he was sure to use his knowledge in the future.
Frustrated with the routine of school and visiting his mother, who was still in a coma, Monty decided he needed a break. 3 years into his degree, he could always finish when the time was right. But now was not that time. The world on the brink of chaos at any moment, Monty needed to live. Unfortunately, fate often has other ideas.
Rupert has recently contacted Monty to bring him into the Messiah fold, for a few reasons. One, more money on your side is never a bad thing. Two, Monty would work wonderfully has a public scapegoat if Messiah ever needed such a thing to shift blame towards. He was also sympathetic to the cause, and with a useful ability.
Monty has dodged mandatory registration by using his influence and wealth to convince those who registered him that no tests were really necessary. After all, he was a Bonaventure. So he was registered as a non-Evolved, and all paperwork says he does not have the SLC.
The future is open to possibilities. Will Montague Bonaventure live up to the legacy of his family name? Or will he cause embarassment and failure? Only time can tell.
