American Dream

Holly Laren Davidson's life prior to her becoming a superhero was nothing out of the ordinary. She was the only child of parents who did the best they could to give their daughter a good life, raising her to be caring and patriotic, to be a woman who truly believes in the ideals set forth by the Founding Fathers of the United States and who tries to actually live by them. By the same token, of course, she was an only child and, while not spoiled, was always the focus of her parent's affection and attention. A native of Colonial Bay, she also grew up with the knowledge that super-powered folks exist, and with knowledge of the things of which such persons are capable. Holly's need for her to always be the focus of attention, instilled in her by having been an only child, along with that she grew up to be an attractive woman, led her take her first modelling job at the age of 16. While not achieving 'super-model' status and fame, she did manage to appear, as one of the secondary models, in a Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition after her eighteenth birthday. From there, with her graduation from high school, she went on to what would turn out to be a short-lived career as a fashion model, even having gotten one television commercial under her belt as of one several young models in an advertisement for an Estee Lauder skin cream.

It was during her first 'big shoot', in which she was one of only eight models showcasing a the designs of a local designer, that her latent superhuman powers would awaken... and they'd do so at a time of great stress, anger, and grief.

The show was taking place outdoors at Buckingham Gardens, on a cool spring evening, and there was a fairly large audience in attendance -- including Holly's parents, who were there to support their daughter as her career was apparently about to 'take off'. As ill-luck would have it, this would be when an 'alien attack' would take place, right in the location of the show.

Just as Holly was about to step onto the stage, sever clawed robotic drones simply appeared over the stage. As literally everyone stood silent in awe, the drones floated down to land around and atop the end of the catwalk stage. Most of them then seemed to 'fade away' from sight as they darted away through the legs of the people in the crowd, but one remained visible and on the stage. A few moments later, the crowd would scream in panic as it attack.

The first victim was the model nearest the drone, its claw-like weapon removing her head from her body. The next several victims, including Holly's parents, were mowed down by laser-like blasts emitted by the robot. Holly saw it all, and screamed her horror and sorrow... then pain, as power suddenly welled up inside her, dropping her to her knees. As the pain faded, the sensation of raw power inside her did not, also, fade away... and Holly, wearing what could easily be termed 'a little red dress', rose to her feet, marvelling at what she was feeling.

Confusion was foremost in her mind, along with the anger and sorrow at having just seen the robot gun down her parents. Then thoughts of super-powered people flying through the city came to her mind, of the things they could do... and the sudden realization that she, suddenly, had powers like those. With that realization came clarity... she had power, and she should use it. Her first, immediate, thought was to avenge her parents' deaths... but then she heard the panicked screams of others still in the area, as the done continued its rampage, and she realized that her parents would want her to not just avenge them, but to try to save others, too.

Holly's latent powers took shape in her mind as she chose to take action, and she took to the air instinctively, also channeling her power into a bolt of raw enery in her hand that she hurled at the drone, damaging it... and getting its attention. The battle was short and fierce, and ended with Holly bloodied and injured, the stage torn asunder, the dress she was wearing shredded and destroyed... and with the whole thing witnessed by many people, quite a few armed with cameras with which they recorded it all.

Paramedics rushed her to the hospital, along with other survivors of the robot's attack. As she recovered from her injuries over the next couple of weeks, she learned that other super-powered people, both known and unknown heroes in Colonial Bay, had clashed against those other robots that had left after first appearing. She left the hospital, in a wheelchair, twice before she was recovered enough to be discharged. The first time was to identify her parents' bodies, and the second was to attend their funeral.

Reporters, mostly those seeking a quick sound byte or picture for a tabloid, hounded her as she left the hospital, being as she was not only a survivor of the attack, but the metahuman responsible for stopping the drone's rampage. At first, she took to the cameras and attention as she always did, enjoying it... until someone asked her about the death of her parents. At that, she simply stopped smiling, went silent, and climbed into a cab to leave -- she was far from done grieving and from being ready to discuss her loss.

Still, the media exposure that began on that day, combined with the images and video from the night of the attack, brought attention to her. Cameramen began to follow her wherever she went... and, once she tired of it all, she's most often escape by riding away on her motorcycle, the Harley-Davidson bike given to her by her father as a graduation gift, while a few times she was forced to resort to using her newfound powers to simply fly away. Companies began to contact her, seeking endorsement deals with her, wanting to have their very own superheroine as their spokesmodel, in some cases offering almost ridiculous amounts of money to hide the restrictiveness of the contracts that accompanied the cash.

There was one offer, the one that offered the least amount of money, that caught Holly's eye:

The Harley Davidson motorcycle company had seen her riding one of their bikes in various pictures and on television, and were asking her to be their spokesperson. Their only 'catches' were, first, that she make at least six media appearances each year, no more than one of which would be a television commercial, and all of which she could choose to reschedule up to a month later, and, second, that she only ride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle while under contract with them, a motorcycle for which the company would pay for all maintenance and repair, and, third, that she set out to be the hero she showed herself to be on the day of her parents' deaths.

Harley Davidson, Inc.'s contract was, by far the least restrictive, even if it offered the least in financial compensation... and was won over the freedom of it, along with the prospect of actually having a chance to be a hero, to give some meaning to the death of her parents as her actual contracted job. She agreed to the terms of the contract, and rejected all the others. The obvious similarity between her own name and the company's name also appealed to her.

A week later, Holly made her first appearance as the Harley spokesperson, in a television commercial. She wore a sleeveless blouse with a prominent 'stars and stripes' design, white jeans, knee-high black leather boots, and matching black gloves, with a red cape draped over one shoulder. She was shown riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle along a roadway, to the strains of the song "America the Beautiful". The words "Live the American Dream" appeared on the screen, just before, using her powers, she lifted the motorcycle, with her still riding it, into the air and out of sight.

She held a small press outdoor conference, too, on the day after the commercial's television debut, where she identified herself as "American Dream", and made it clear that, while Colonial Bay had many heroes already, that the villains would need to also watch out for her, now. Dressed as she had been in the television commercial, she ended the press conference by simply flying away.

LINKS
Known Appearances of American Dream

THEME MUSIC
Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Fortunate Son" Steppenwolf, "Born to be Wild" ''"America the Beautiful", as performed by Ray Charles ''"The Star-Spangled Banner", as performed by Tiffany Evans