Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Heroes Career
When he finally walks into his apartment, he's hit with the familiar fragrance of flowers. That's thanks to his grandma, who is also Powered. Her special ability enables her to communicate with plants, so as far back as he can remember, Grandma has filled this home with every kind of flower and foliage imaginable. His apartment has always felt like a lush greenhouse, and he couldn't imagine it any other way.
He drops his bag near the door and approaches his favorite flower, Bronzina is a bronze-rusted rose from a species with metallic foliage that Grandma has spent years breeding. He lean in to get a whiff of the rose, which always smells faintly of caramel—another one of Grandma's unique touches.
"I'm afraid Bronzina has been especially cross with me today," Grandma says, entering the living room. "I had to de-thorn her this morning and now she feels particularly vulnerable. You know how roses get about their thorns, such a sore point."
"Well, tell Bronzina I think she's still a stunner, thorns or no thorns," Travis say, approaching Grandma. He knows Grandma better than anyone, so he'd describe her style as elegant.
Grandma always wears her finest blouses, dyes her hair blonde weekly and drips with large jewels and elaborate broaches. Travis kisses her hello, then steps back and points to the new video game he brought home.
"Another whopping Virtuous Reality deposit to add to the pot."
"Every little bit helps, you know that," Grandma says. "Now if only I could teach one of these little darlings to start growing money for leaves…"
"If anyone can do it, it's you, Gran," Travis say, walking toward the kitchen. "What are we having for dinner? I'm starving."
But he stopped as short as he see the feast laid out on the kitchen table. It appears Grandma has cooked his favorite meal!
"Happy Birthday," she says with a grin, hugging Travis's side.
"You did all of this for me Gran?!" Travis says, "I love you always Gran!"
"Hush! Let's start eating before the food gets cold."
Travis finally pushes his plate away, his stomach uncomfortably full. He love Grandma's cooking, but it's usually pretty heavy: all meat and bread and pasta, since vegetables tend to scream at Grandma when she tries to eat them.
"Well then, now that you've eaten a proper meal I can finally give you your present!" Grandma says, turning to a shelf above the table where several potted plants sit. Their leafy vines hang down across the wall and create a lush, green curtain.
"Guadalupe, would you please?"
At Grandma's request, the nearest vine swings toward you, an envelope nestled between its lowest leaves.
"Go ahead, take it," Grandma practically squeals. "I can't wait any longer!"
Knowing it'd be useless to object, he open the envelope—which is made of silk fabric, never paper—and pull out a card made entirely out of dried rose petals. Grandma never lets anything go to waste, especially not the remains of her best friends.
And while this rose-card is especially lovely, he's really stunned by what's inside.
A brand new DRPR-issued Powered Hero License.
For him.
He read the license, double-checking that the information listed really belongs to him.
DEPARTMENT FOR THE REGULATION OF POWERED RESOURCES: HERO LICENSE
Name: Travis Sterling
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Single
Orientation:
Codename:
Since the twenty-first-century political disputes regarding sexual orientation and marriage, the government has required all citizens to declare their orientation along with their marital status. He may think it's a bit of an invasion of privacy, but it was a required field on his application. So he answered that he is attracted to women.
Next, his code name is: Gravitate, he writes on the license.
DEPARTMENT FOR THE REGULATION OF POWERED RESOURCES: HERO LICENSE
Name: Travis Sterling
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Single
Orientation: Straight
Code name: Gravitate
He stares down in disbelief at the license—Grandma has just given him the best birthday present. Ever.
"How…?" Travis start to ask, not sure where to begin.
"Someone just needed to pay the outstanding bill on your application," Grandma says, beaming.
"But Gran, this is too much. We can't possibly afford—"
"Hush," Grandma says, crossing her arms. "I had to spend all that extra potpourri money on something useful, didn't I?"
Grandma smiles at him, then looks at the tree in the corner of the kitchen. She nods and right on cue the tree begins to shake, letting loose a shower of sparkling seeds. Grandma only has that old tree shake shimmer on the most special of occasions…
"Thank you, Gran" is all he can manage.
"It's only what you deserve, Travis," Grandma says, leaning back in her chair and stroking the shimmer tree. "Besides, it's what your parents would have wanted."
Suddenly Travis looks down on the floor sadly. His parents, The Sound and The Fury, were Hoshi City's most famous Powered couple. When they met in high school, they discovered that his mother's ability to generate vocal sonic waves perfectly complemented his father's ability to harness sound energy. Almost immediately after they arrived on HC's hero scene, the public became enamored with their budding romance and their harmonious Power set.
As they rose rapidly to the hero A-list, no villain was too dangerous for them to battle and no party was too exclusive for them to attend. This meant that he got to spend his childhood immersed in HC's finest hero high life, knowing that someday he'd fight alongside his parents as a famous hero.
Until his thirteenth birthday. It was going to be the best night of his life, the first time his Powers might begin to manifest. His parents were at a press conference speaking about one of their recent successes—shutting down an assassin training academy masquerading as a public high school. They were supposed to say a few words about the mission and then come straight home to celebrate his big night.
However, just as they were preparing to leave, a young villainess crashed the event. She was Miss Artillery, one of the assassin academy's teachers, and she entered ranting about how The Sound and The Fury had ruined her life. She quickly went on the offensive with her Power to generate weaponry and Travis parents moved to apprehend her. But for some strange reason—perhaps because they were in such a rush to get home to him—they miscalculated their joint attack.
In what became the biggest news story of the year, The Sound and The Fury murdered Miss Artillery by liquefying her brain.
While Travis father used his sound-enhanced strength to restrain Miss Artillery, his mother aimed to disable her with a quick sonic blast.
Travis still doesn't know whether his mother misjudged the strength of her blast or his father miscalculated the angle.
Either way, when the blast cleared, Miss Artillery drooped in Travis father's arms, pink matter oozing from her nostrils.
This certainly wasn't the first time a hero had accidentally used fatal force against a villain. Traditionally, this mistake would require a fair amount of community service and a hefty fine, especially for heroes of his parents' caliber.
However, this accident came on the heels of a recent string of excessive hero-on-villain brutality and their case fell into the hands of Judge Victon, an up-and-comer who was making a play to become MC's mayor. Deciding that a harsh ruling would set the perfect example for his zero-tolerance campaign against heroic brutality, Judge Victon passed the harshest sentence ever given to any Powered Hero.
Citing a "murderous misuse of Powered ability," he sentenced Travis parents to a life term in The Devoid, a maximum security facility for Powereds.
Without visitation rights.
The last time he saw his parents was on the day of that infamous sentencing, right before the police escorted them to The Devoid. He'll never forget the image of his mother and father in orange jumpsuits, handcuffed and shamed, their spirits broken.
Judge Victon wouldn't even let them hug Travis goodbye.
His mom couldn't stop crying as the police escorted her away. But as his dad followed, he turned to Travis and said the words he'd come to live by.
"Don't let this stop you, Travis. Become a hero—for us."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone