NOVEL NEXT 
Ethan may have missed the Rise, but what comes after is entirely up to him.
The Surge sent a burst of radioactive energy from deep underground that blanketed the mountain city of Ascension like a fine dusting of snow, resulting 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 has firmly 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 Havoc, however, doesn't care about any of that. While working in the tunnels, he missed the Surge, and his opportunity to finally escape his small hometown, Stillrock.
With the help of his best friend, Raz, he embarks on his own relentless pursuit of powers strong enough to rival his sister's. 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?
Ethan has to gain control of his new abilities while fixing all the new problems he's caused if he wants a shot at becoming a Protector, but Slate isn't going to wait for him to figure out how to keep himself safe while she presses forwards with her plan to upend the power structure in Ascension.
Running is always an option, but that would hardly impress the bold Apex scientist whose research holds the key to Slate's plans, and he'll need a few new friends if he wants to survive his first week in Ascension.