Bookish nephew of Charles Avocet, Neal worked as a scientist aboard Sanctuary during the voyage through Hiverspace. At one point, he and another scientist became exposed to a new form of the Legion Virus. The other scientist died; Neal Avocet became a werewolf. Although doctors ultimately cured him of complete lycanthropy, residual effects lingered (enhanced smell, yearning for raw meat, a compulsion to growl inexplicably from time to time) and when angered Neal Avocet could complete the transition to wolfman. After Sanctuary returned to normalspace, he vanished for a while and then resurfaced on Tomin Kora as a folk hero named Shadowmaster, who rescued people in peril on the Cabrerra crime organization homeworld. In 3002, however, he returned to Sanctuary, joining up with several techies