Born in the wilds of the Congo, the ape lived his life in harmony with nature. It was a simple existence lived out with the ape community to which he was a member. He ate, he slept, he groomed his neighbors, and he migrated with the other apes from one part of the jungle to another. Basically, he was your ordinary ape living an ordinary ape life with other ordinary apes.

One day while gathering some nice tasty fruit, he heard a loud bang and felt a sharp pinch in his little chimp ass. Before he knew what was happening, the world started spinning and he was falling off the branch. He didn't even recall hitting the ground. It was a long time before he regained consciousness.

The chimp woke up in a nightmare. Gone was the jungle, replaced by a small covered cage. Alone and frightened, he tried to escape, but the metal bars held fast. He remembered lots of motion like he was traveling, but he couldn't see anything outside the odd pale skin that covered his cage. Occasionally he'd be woken by the cover being pulled away and funny-looking animals would be looking at him and chattering, sometimes laughing like the hyenas. Occasionally they'd give him food. Sometimes they'd poke him with sticks, or just point at him and give each other things like green paper. Always they covered the cage back up and went away.

One day, the cover was pulled back by an animal in a white coat, and he saw that he was in a new place. He noticed that he was in a room with lots of other chimps, all also in cages like his own. They were looking at him and jumping about, making welcomes and some territorial arguments in chimp language. "New guy!" "Get lost!" "My banana!" "Hey, I can swing from my feet!" The white coat gave him a nice shiny thing around his wrist and some bananas. The chimp ate the banana, but when he tried the shiny thing, it was hard and hurt his teeth.

It seemed that the poor chimp was fated to a boring life in the cage, sitting around and eat the food he was given. There were no trees to climb and no one to groom his fur, which sucked. Once and a while, the white coats would come and take him out to strange places. Sometimes they'd get him all wet and make him smelly with white foamy stuff Ð usually just after he got his smell the way he liked. Sometimes they'd take him to a place with a big metal table that he'd get up on while they put strange things on his body and poked him with funny-looking small metal sticks. They were very strange animals, but they fed him and so he didnÕt put up much of a fight.

One time he went to the metal table room and was given a banana. Being a chimp and liking bananas very much, he ate it. Soon the room started to spin like the tree did so long ago, and he fell asleep. When he awoke, he was startled to find himself strapped down on the metal table. He became frightened, and struggled against the bonds while screeching his fear and anger. Some white coats came over and placed a large metal tube above his body. They went away, and soon the lights went out. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash from the metal tube, and the chimp felt himself get all tingly, then hot, then nauseous. Finally the sensations were just too unpleasant and shocking and he passed out.

Sometime later he woke up, back in his cage but not back with the other chimps. His cage was a little larger, and he was the only chimp he could see. It was dark, he was alone, but something was different. It wasnÕt just the way he felt, a hot and cold sensation all the time which made little sense, but it was the way everything around him seemed less confusing. He felt fear, and anger, but it wasnÕt just instinctual anymore. He found himself placing thoughts behind the anger, a running monologue in his head that wasnÕt there before. Instead of grabbing the bars and making screeches, he decided Ð actually thought about it and decided Ð to wait and see what was going to happen instead of just reacting to his dark imprisonment. And that in itself was interesting enough to cause even more thinking. It was a weird adjustment.

When the lights came on once again, the white coats returned. They began more prodding with the odd metal things, and they were speaking their strange language to each other. It seemed to the chimp that they were trying to get a reaction out of him, so he stuck out his tongue, and didnÕt that just make them all kinds of happy, and he felt good about making them happy. One of them dropped a stick she was using to make marks on a flat white thing. Without thinking, the chimp tried to pick up the stick. What happened next isn't exactly known, but the chimp's arm started stretching. It became over a yard long, reached down through the bars of his cage all the way to the floor to pick up the stick, and handed it to the white coat.

Well the white coats were really bunged up about that one, which was funny to the chimp, since they always seem to know what they're doing. They began to look all worried and started talking to themselves quickly and pointing at the ape and each other. Finally, one of them left and came back with another banana. "Oh no you don't!" thought the chimp. He remembered (yet another odd sensation) and knew all about their funny bananas. He moved back and slipped between the bars of his cage without even realizing that heÕd done it.. The white coats tried to chase him and catch him but he was too fast. Unfortunately, someone must have gotten a funny banana thrower thing. He heard a bang, felt that familiar pinch on his chimp ass, got dizzy and fell asleep.

When the chimp awoke he was back in the jungle. It wasn't his jungle, and he still felt funny all over, but he didn't care. He was just happy to be back in his native environment. There were a couple of other apes and they were fine with his being there, and for the first time in ages he enjoyed the blessed, relaxing pleasure of communal grooming. Once and a while heÕd try to engage one or both of the others in some chimp-like conversation, but they seemed to be dullards with very limited ideas. So after a few days when he started feeling a bit better about himself, he decided to move about the jungle and see what he could see. What he found was a big wall.

You donÕt often see a big wall in the middle of the jungle , so he followed it until he found a corner, and then kept following it until he eventually came to another corner, and then another. But this last corner wasnÕt just a change in the wallÕs direction. It was a change in the wall itself. The wall became transparent, and beyond the wall looked like a room from the place heÕd just come from with all the weird tall animals in white coats. The jungle was completely contained in these walls. Stranger and stranger was his world becoming.

Eventually he grew tired of his fellow chimps. All they seemed interested in was laying about eating bananas and throwing their poop at each other. The one time he tried to explain to them that they might want to try keeping their poop off to one side of the jungle they looked back at him like he had three heads or something. Finally he just gave up. The uncooperative simpletons just werenÕt worth the occasional grooming session. Not long after that, they up and disappeared. And then the white coats came back.

From beyond the clear wall, where he could see and hear them, it seemed like they wanted to communicate with him. A system of hand signs and gestures was quickly worked out and it was such a relief to finally be able to express his nascent thoughts to somebody, even the white coats. After regular communication was established with this sign language, things really took off. There was a different white coat for everything it seemed. There was one who worked with him on the signing. There was another who worked with him to establish a diet and an activity regimen to keep him active. There was yet another who taught him about numbers, a concept which really blew his hair back. There was somebody who helped him figure out what it was that his body was going through and the neat new things he could do with it. And best of all, there was someone there just for him to talk to, and who would take all his questions and try to provide answered. He liked this person Ð they were called ÒpeopleÓ Ð the best.

It took some time, about a year, but eventually he worked out what had happened and why he was there. Once a level of trust was established, ÒFluxÓ as the people had taken to calling him, was allowed out of his artificial jungle to walk around and see new things. Despite the terrible nature of his capture and use as a science experiment, he found the wider world so wondrous and exciting that (with the help of his therapist) he was able to get past it and learn to enjoy his newfound life. It still sucked that he couldnÕt relate to his own kind anymore, and that stuck with him.

When the time came that he had learned enough to be a functional member of society, another person called a ÒlawyerÓ who represented a group that supported animal rights approached him about getting his legal status squared away. This basically meant that heÕd be in charge of making decisions that affected him, and it sounded appealing, if somewhat novel. There were all manner of visits to a courthouse, talks with some important person called ÒjudgeÓ, and tests upon tests upon tests. Finally the judge person decided that Flux was ÒcompetentÓ, and while he wasnÕt sure what that meant, basically it gave Flux what he wanted. There seemed to be a lot of interest by people in the decision, but Flux didnÕt care. He had lots of people helping him out and he still got to see his therapist anytime he wanted to ask questions about everything and try to figure it all out.

The first time Flux used his powers for more than just personal getting about or stuff was when he had to defend himself against some people who had some problem with his being able to live with all the other people. There were eight of them, but Flux managed to render half of them unconscious and escape. This prompted yet more time in front of a judge, but it was decided that Flux had the same rights of self defense as anybody else. It was suggested that Flux get a job, and so he set out to try and see where he might best contribute and what he might enjoy.

During that time, FluxÕs therapist came up with the idea that he might want to look into what the other gifted people were doing. They jumped or flew about doing good things like justice and protecting and kicking butt. It was a lot like communal grooming, he thought, and why not give it a try. He had his therapist put him in touch with somebody who could help him figure out what the rules were, and not long after that, Flux started his journey as a superhero Ð er, superchimp.

Flux has the still-developing personality of your average human teenager. He became ÒawareÓ only a few years ago, and since then heÕs had a crash course in everything people generally take for granted having learned from a lifetime of experience and schooling. This leads to some immature and naive attitudes which occasionally get him into trouble. To his credit, heÕs eager and sincere and always willing to learn and ask questions. His therapist helps him work out why itÕs not okay to pull practical jokes all the time or why you canÕt eat someone elseÕs food, and other social faux pas issues.

He has a big heart and believes in communal living and getting along. He has a hard time understanding crime beyond the Darwinist implications of the strong preying on the weak, but he does find the idea that it doesnÕt have to be that way appealing. He enjoys the simple pleasures of helping people who need it without any thought of a reward, or just sitting around in a new place absorbing the new sights and sounds and scents. ThereÕs an innocent child-like wonder of the world that competes with a brash, feisty animalistic nature to present a uniquely fascinating person in a small chimp package.

His enjoyment of helping others was the initial motivation behind his becoming a crime fighter, but the more he did the job the more he found it to be more than just that. It serves as a way for him to fit into human society in a way that he wasnÕt able to accomplish doing other jobs Ð the labor unions didnÕt want him and the professional associations had a hard time equating themselves to a chimp. It also serves as a positive outlet for his more aggressive feelings and resentments at being treated like a second-class citizen.

"The nextht perthon to call me ÔBonzoÕ is getting ripped a new ath-hole."

As a result of the radiation burst which triggered his powers and awareness, Flux acquired an ability to change and manipulate his entire body at the molecular level. He has shown an ability to use this body manipulation in a variety of ways including changing his shape, size, structure, and mass towards various effects. Flux's new body is also much stronger, faster, and resistant to injury than an ordinary chimp.

Flux is a chimpanzee. He is small, with short black fur and brown eyes. While making the move to incorporate himself into modern society, he engaged the services of a tailor and had all manner of clothing cut and made for his small size and shape, but he soon found out that wearing clothing, even clothing appropriate for the time and place, only served to amuse people and even draw a laugh or two. So he simplified things.

When not actively working, Flux opts for a simple yet functional one-piece Velcro-fastened jumpsuit made of comfortable navy denim by Levi Strauss just for him. When in hero mode he changes to a royal blue one made out of a highly elastic material that can stretch to accommodate his powers.