The year was 1944. The rumbling of various explosions were heard as Ben Singleton slowly woke up inside an abandoned home. Looking around him, he found a rifle by his side and saw a pool of blood coming from a nearby doorway. He heard footsteps approaching and suddenly grabbed for his rifle. Another US soldier entered, running towards Ben.

"Thank God you're awake! We thought that guy had killed you!" The soldier said, looking down towards Ben's leg.

Ben followed his gaze down towards his leg, realizing he had been nearly impaled with a knife. He touched it slightly before yelling out in pain. The soldier quickly covered Ben's mouth.

"They don't know we're here. We gotta get out of here. Can you stand?"

Ben grabbed the side of a table and slowly rose, groaning in pain as he did so.

"Let's get out of here" The soldier threw Ben's arm around his soldier and began guiding him out, holding a pistol in his other side. As the two left the house, the sounds of explosions and gunfire could be heard much clearly than before. They continued down the stone road, approaching the border of the town. Suddenly, the ground in front of them was pelted by gunfire. The soldier tackled Ben as he dived to the side. After the gunfire had died down, the two watched in horror as a German soldier holding a machine gun walked towards them.

"Amerikanische schweine! Sie werden Frankreich niemals einnehmen!" The German soldier yelled.

"Hey now. Calm down. I'm just trying to transported an injured." The American soldier replied, calmly standing up, holding his arms above his head, his pistol still in his right hand.

"You let us go, and I promise not to shoot you when I come back" He chuckled

"Fick dich!" The German yelled, shooting the American in the chest three times. The American collapsed to the ground as the German approached him. Before he could do anything, however, the American fired one shot in the German's head, killing him. Ben could only watch in horror as his comrade bled out in front of him. As he slowly attempted to stand, more yelling in German could be heard quickly approaching. The American looked at Ben one last time.

"Run..." he said. Ben turned around and began to run for the border, soon hearing gunshots echo after him. As he approached the border, he found himself approaching a cave. He immediately dove in, seeking shelter. He looked around in a panicked breath until he began to felt a surge of pain towards his leg. The knife had become dislodged and he was bleeding. He began to hyperventilate while grabbing the wound, watching as sihoulletes approached the entrance of the cave. 

Ben continued back, going further into the darkness. A faint purple glow could be seen in the distance. Having no other options, Ben limped towards it, coming across a glowing stone. As soon as he placed his hand on it, it began to turn into dust, slowly picking up in the air seemingly from a wind source, despite how far he was in the cave. Some of the dust shot up in his nose, and the pain he felt on his leg began to disappear. As he stood in awe, he heard footsteps, accompanied by lights from flashlights. Ben found himself face to face with three soldiers, all aiming their rifles at him and screaming in German.

"Please-!" Ben began to call out. But before he could finish his plea, one of the soldiers fired. The bullet immediately richocheted off Ben's chest, striking the soldier. The remaining two soldiers yelled out and fired at Ben as they slowly walked back, the bullets further bouncing off. As both soldiers ran out of ammo, they turned and began to run towards the cave entrance. Ben ran after them, soon finding himself once again in the bright lights of the French countryside. One soldier tripped the other as he attempted to get away, causing Ben to stop and kneel.

The German soldier that fell began to weep and plead in German. Ben held out his hand.

"It's okay, I'm not going to kill you" However, as soon as he said this, his hand began to glow, shooting out a purple beam at the soldier, impaling him and killing him instantly. Ben shut his hand, realizing what had happened, and collapsed to the ground, slowly sobbing to himself. 

Hours later, Ben remained sitting there, staring at the body. All he could do was reflect on what had happened. A light suddenly shone on him. As he quickly looked, he saw a group of American and British soldiers approaching him. He immediately stood up and held up his hand.

"Slow down. We're Allies" one of the soldiers said. Ben relaxed upon realizing who they were.

"Did we win?" He asked

"Yeah, the battle ended hours ago, though. Where were you?"

"...I got lost"

The soldier nodded as the rest of his men looked around the scene. He looked down and noticed the body of the German with the hole in it.

"What happened here?" He asked

"I don't know"

The soldier stared at Ben with a strange look on his face.

"Well come on, let's get moving." Ben joined the group as they began to walk back through the town. As Ben slowly began to fall back behind the group, he slipped into a hole on the ground he didn't see caused by a mortar. However, just before he hit the ground, he stopped short, floating midair. In disbelief, he attempted to move around in this state, which he was able to do. He flew out of the hole and landed on the street, rejoining the group.

Over the course of nearly 7 decades, Ben would eventually return home from the war and marry the love of his life. However, as they grew old together, Ben never seemed to physically age. His wife would eventually pass away at the age of 80 in 2006. Now in 2011, Ben has slowly come to terms with a horrible truth - He has become immortal. He had never used his powers since the incident during the war, but it seems they've finally caught back up to him. He sat alone in his Emblem City apartment, overlooking the city. Opening the window, Ben slowly stepped off the ledge, only to find himself floating in the air once again. It's been 67 years since he had done this, the feeling was like no other. As he floated back inside, he suddenly heard a police siren blaring just down below. He didn't know why, maybe out of curiosity, or longing for a sense of excitement, but he decided to follow the car. 

He found himself at the end of a street, where a car had collided with a bus. As he landed in an alleyway to avoid attention, four men would step out of the car. They all donned ski masks and were armed. Two had pistols, one had an uzi, and the last one had a shotgun.

As they stepped out, the man with the uzi opened fire at the police car, killing the cops inside. The remaining bank robbers pointed their guns at the surrounding civilians, while the one with the shotgun stepped in the bus and began directing the passengers and driver towards the back. The robber with the uzi walked towards the car and pulled out a megaphone, beginning to yell.

"Listen up! Until the cops leave us alone, you're going to be our guests for the afternoon! Do what we say, and you won't get shot!"

As Ben looked around, he noticed a duffel bag full of money in the car. Putting two and two together, he realized the men were bank robbers. One of the men armed with a pistol approached Ben and grabbed him by the arm.

"You're coming with me" He said. On instinct, Ben headbutted the man, knocking him out instantly. He then grabbed his mask and put it on as to cover his own face. He began walking towards the bus. The robber with the uzi looked at him.

"Al, you change your outfit or something? What the hell?" Ben immediately ran at the robber and punched him, sending him into the wall. Before he could do anything else, a window broke behind him, and the robber with the shotgun began to fire. Ben grabbed the uzi off the ground and threw it at the robber, instantly knocking him out. He then felt more pelts as the last robber shot his pistol at him. He turned and sighed.

"If a shotgun didn't kill me, do you really think a pistol will?" He said. The robber blankly stared at Ben. He sighed.

"You're an idiot." He punched him in the side of the face, knocking him unconscious. The hostages began to slowly leave the bus and take in what they just saw. With a smile of satisfaction on his face, Ben began to lift off in the air and fly back to his apartment, realizing he had found his new calling.