NeedHelp creating a short-formed Backstory

Benjamin “Ben” Reid Peterson, a 19 year old, identifiable by his wavy blonde hair, and cerulean eyes. Born in the bustling side of the City of Metropolis in 1990, 23rd of March, grew up in a comfortable middle-class home. Raised by his attentive parents, he was a polite, well rounded kid who spent holidays with plentiful comics and action figures. His childhood was pretty.. ordinary for him at the start, but at 13, he shifted his focus toward academics for the next 3 years.

By age 16, Ben had become a familiar face at the local library. Ms. Madds, the librarian, has kept him busy, often viewed by Ben as a personal teacher, spending his free time studying math, history, and the world around him. With her guidance allowing him to excel in cognitive adaptability, critical thinking, and problem solving, through solving problems creating scenarios to test his thinking. Overall, education came naturally to him, he rarely struggled with studies.

Recently, his focus towards his Father—a brilliant genetic scientist, Albert Peterson, despite being reserved and consumed by work, made time for Ben during his childhood. He went missing years ago, deeply affecting Ben. Without his father’s guidance and encouragement, Ben’s life was upside down. He’s the reason why his son is so smart now. He definitely would be different if his father was still present. His Mother, Margarete, a brilliant teacher, was a notable woman. She too was deeply shaken by her husband’s abrupt disappearance.

Her anxiety for Ben grew daily, often her to ground him whenever he returned home battered. Ben often left out at late hours going dumpster diving, mostly for easy cash and another reason. Out on the streets, he frequently found himself in scuffles, forcing him to learn how to defend himself. The quality time they once shared began to fade. At first, his mother assumed he was simply growing up, but Ben was becoming secretive—a distorted mirror of his father, a sharp change from the boy who used to share everything with her. Simple things right? Teen shenanigans.

Over time, his skinny frame gradually filled out into a leaner, tougher build. Constantly tussling with local turf bent thugs doing heavy street labor transformed him. Crooks on the street would say “ that boy’s wiriness turned solid.”

When Ben was 17, his mother transferred to teach at his high school so she could keep a closer eye on him until he turned 18. He plans to find his father somehow, someday. Nothing is impossible, a meta-human can definitely find him. They can lift buildings, become elemental beings, grow wings, or alter their molecular structure, maybe they can’t, maybe they’re forced not to.

Ben holds a pragmatic view of meta-humans–viewing them as fundamentally no different from regular humans, equally capable of good and bad. Rather than change the world single-handedly, he prefers taking things one step at a time. His Mother shares the same grounded view, “They’re just as imperfect as anyone else.” His Father, however, held a slightly different view, seeing meta-humans as a natural step in evolution, a potential force for good in the world that shouldn't be controlled or exploited by no means.

Outside of all the stress, Ben makes time to support those who’ve stood by him. His father sacrificed everything for the family, maybe even more and his mother continues to do the same. Rather than volunteering at food drives or community centers, he prefers doing small, everyday favors. It’s less time consuming and much more manageable for his schedule.

On certain days, he wonders how he would feel in their shoes. If he had been born and was different, how would his life change? Would he be able to find his father, or would he himself go missing instead? “WHATEVER...” he brushes those thoughts aside, he must focus on one step at a time.

Ben never knew the full extent of his father’s work at "The Lab," nor did he pry into it growing up; getting answers out of him was harder than carving stone with a wooden spoon. But with his father gone for over a year, Ben is left with lingering questions: “Did his father look into something too deeply?”, “Did he stumble across something he wasn't supposed to see?” All Ben has left is a briefcase containing a heavily redacted document.