"Tank" Dempsey, in his original timeline, hailed from the West Virginian town of Liberty Falls, and was part of a local biker gang known as the Steel Mountain Riders. At some point in 1968, Dempsey was teleported to the Dark Aether by  Warden, a mysterious entity who rules over the Dark Aether, due to his previous encounter at the temple having bonded him to a Dark Aether entity. He then allied with three soldiers. Nikolai Belinski, Edward Richtofen, and Takeo Masaki