Ethan Havoc was sick of getting left behind. Toiling deep below the surface of the earth during his night shift in the Stillrock Silver Mines, Ethan was nearly killed while working in a mining tunnel when a seismic event known as the Surge rocked the city of Ascension.  The Surge sent a burst of radioactive energy that blanketed the city like a fine dusting of snow, radically changing Ascension.  The Surge resulted in less than one percent of the city's population gaining superhuman abilities that ranged from inconvenient to catastrophically destructive, irrevocably changing the city's power dynamic overnight. After nearly a year straight of fighting throughout the city, Apex established its Protectorate Program, employing as many newly powered people as it could to bring the city under control once more.  Now, the city enjoys an uneasy peace while Apex struggles to keep the balance of power from tipping again. Ethan, however, doesn't care about any of that.  While he worked in the mines, his sister became the biggest Protector in the city, known as Titan, the first Protector of Ascension. He swears he isn't jealous of her, but he, fruitlessly, goes on his own pursuit of powers until, one evening, he hits the jackpot.  Now, after finally gaining his own powers in a tragic accident that, depending on who you ask, may have been entirely his fault, Ethan Havoc is on the brink of reaching his goal and becoming Ascension's newest Protector. It cost him every relationship he had, but nobody said purposefully altering your DNA to become a superhero would be easy. Of course, things would probably be easier if Ethan also hadn't accidentally created the newest supervillain to target Ascension in the process of gaining his own abilities, but how was he supposed to know that Slate had a murderous streak aimed directly at his own sister? Emboldened by a new villain, the Altered are taking a crack at the city once more, leaving Ascension’s peace on the verge of dissolving.  As the only one who knows where Slate came from, it’s up Ethan to decide if he just wanted powers, or if he really wanted to become a hero. Luckily for everyone, there’s a girl he wants to impress, and saving the city would certainly help him out.