Heroes' Odyssey: Varunton

5 - Beginning to Crumble

Ivan's Flashback (1984 and 1997)

Physical fitness and sports competitiveness are always valued and honored in the Hanley ancestry, a lineage full of athletes in their family tree. Ivan was born to a bodybuilder father and an Olympic sprinter mother. Ivan was able to play basketball with the quickness of his mother and American football with the strength of his father because of those genes.

Ivan's life, on the other hand, is far from perfect; his parents' methods were abusive, to say the least, as all they wanted for Ivan was to train all day to become a sports prodigy; as a child, he was forced into rigorous training sessions and never-ending workouts, and the weight of his family's expectations burdens his young body.

Ivan's early adolescent years were similar; the unrelenting pressure from his parents and the lack of family love and bonding made him a bitter, arrogant, and troubled jock at school; the rage that he couldn't release at home he vents to his peers, whom he deems weak. He wants his classmates to feel what he feels at home; he wants the dominance, superiority, intimidation, and power that he feels at home.

All Ivan ever wanted was love and acceptance from his parents, for them to view him as their child rather than just another athlete in their family.

In the year 1997, a hooded guy was noticed suspiciously at the university gate one day. Teachers and students took note, and the school stated that the other campus entrance would be used to avoid the strange figure on the main gate.

"It's creepy, that hooded man just standing there," Cathy, Ivan's close friend, said.

"Not really; I could just punch the sh*t out of him," Ivan said, mockingly laughing.

"You're too loud; stop that." Cathy despised hearing his laugh whenever he found something amusing.

"Why? Who's going to stop me?" Ivan looked around at his classmates, who all looked horrified when they made eye contact with him.

Every student moved to the other gate, but the same hooded figure was waiting at the other gate of the campus, holding a massive rock, slightly smaller than a boulder but large enough to flatten all the students.

The stranger throws it in the direction of the youths, and Ivan and his classmates were about to be crushed.

A professional superhero arrived and used his incredible power to stop the massive boulder on his own. The superhero then shattered the rock with his own two hands into small bits. He smiled before lunging at the figure and punching him so hard that he flew off the school grounds.

Ivan, Cathy, and the students were astounded to see this superhero appear out of nowhere to save them. After the situation was resolved, the crowd gathered around him, amazed by his actions. Ivan was surprised to see his attitude be like this; he expected a strength-dependent professional superhero to be a jerk to civilians, but this one was a kind, laid-back, and calm superhero.

Ivan said, "You go home first, Cathy."

"Wait, why?" Cathy was perplexed.

"I'm just going to have a little chat with the hero," Ivan said as he walked toward the superhero.

"Just don't punch him like you always do," Cathy said before heading to the gate and heading home.