MAJOR DEEJ UNIVERSE

Ryan Schweitzer is a boy who believed his parents cared more about their jobs in the New York State Civil Defense facility than about him.  It seemed that nearly every other day, Ryan's parents were working 'overtime' at the New York City facilities. On such occasions, Ryan was usually picked up by his family's neighbor; a gruff old neighbor Ryan hated and considered an 'old fart'.

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In his teen years, Ryan started hanging out with the wrong crowd at school and getting into trouble.  His parents talked to him and encouraged him to 'do the right thing' and stay out of trouble; the 'old fart' neighbor instead lectured him about respect and responsibility for his community.  This only made home life worse for Ryan.  To add to this, Ryan was getting sick of constantly being herded into the school's bomb shelters every time there was another super-villain attack.  It seemed like every other day they were in the shelters for a couple hours. It got so intolerable that Ryan and one of his friends he grew up with (that was also in with the bad crowd) decided to ditch going to the shelter during one such alert/super-villain attack.  His decision would drastically change his life forever thereafter.

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When Ryan's teacher realized Ryan had taken off and wasn't in the shelter, Ryan's father was quickly called at the Civil Defense facility. What Ryan didn't know is that both of his parents were actually superheroes that both went by the same code-name "Civil Defense". Rather than clear the battle scene of innocent civilians that could have gotten hurt in the superhero fighting that was ensuing, Ryan's parent disobeyed orders from the Civil Defense authority and went looking for Ryan and his friend, which were practically hundreds of yards from the battle scene. Ryan's parents, found Ryan and flew down to his location; at that location was a superhero fighting a super-villain and over 20 remaining gun-totting super-soldiers gunning down anyone in the battle zone; Ryan and his friend were among the civilians trapped in the line of fire.  As it was, Ryan's friend was already dead, with Ryan a mere second away from following his friend's fate.

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Ryan's parents swooped in and fought the gunmen, defeating them quickly and saving Ryan.  As Ryan was about to innocently thank the two 'Civil Defense" heroes, those same heroes took off their helmets and powered down their tech-suits to show Ryan who they really were-Ryan's parents.  Ryan was overwhelmed with joy to see his parents, although he was still in shock over what had just happened.  As Ryan and his parents went to hug each other, the worst scenario happened.

 

A super-soldier had already killed the superhero he was fighting and went to see where his troops were, only to find them all unconscious and defeated, all except two red, white and blue dressed 'heroes' in tech suits who'd just taken off their helmets in front of some dumb kid.

 

Big mistake on the 'heroes' part, the super-soldier mentally thought to himself, as he shot the 'heroes' in the back of both their heads.

 

Ryan was sprayed in his parents' blood, flesh and brain matter.

 

Ryan's parents died instantaneously.  Ryan went into shock, and the super-soldier got away.

 

Ryan was hospitalized for his shock after the incident.  As it was, he was also wracked with guilt and remorse in believing he was responsible for his parents death. The next week's time after his parent's deaths, superheroes came to Ryan, telling him of all the selfless and brave acts his parents did to protect the civilians of the city over the years, saving hundreds of lives, sometimes spending days on end to help others. The funeral was enormous with tens of thousands of people attending; the entire New York Civil Defense authority, the state's firefighters, police precincts, national guard units, and wave after wave of superheroes, all attended. Even the US Air Force Thunderbirds performance team did a flyover with a 'missing man' formation during the internationally televised funeral.

 

The tributes to his parents were sincere and heart-breaking.  Hundreds of people whom Ryan's parents had saved showed up to pay tribute.  Ryan had no idea the heroism his parents had performed when all he thought about was himself.  During this sad time, the 'old fart' of a neighbor was there to help Ryan through all of the funeral arrangements, publicity and hospital care for Ryan.  Ryan had no other family to support him, thus the 'old fart' became his new family overnight.

 

After the funeral, the 'old fart', whose actual name was Terrance Decatur, told Ryan that he himself was the original 'Civil Defense' superhero back in the 20th century's cold war era between 1950 and 1990. After he'd retired, he passed on the 'Civil Defense' mantle to Ryan's father, who eventually teamed with Ryan's mother, and of course married each other and had Ryan.

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Decatur said he'd promised Ryan's parents he'd look after Ryan when they were away on their heroic missions.  Decatur told Ryan that his parents should have passed on the 'Civil Defense' mantle to someone else, so that they'd be able to spend time with Ryan, but Ryan's parents told Decatur they wanted to pass the mantle to Ryan...when he was ready.  Ryan, with tears streaming from his eyes, shaking in despair over all the revelations he'd now heard, said he wanted to continue his parents legacy, as a hero, helping others like they did. Decatur, not wanting to plant another Schweitzer in the ground, declined. At that point, Ryan, uncharacteristically, stood tall, gave Decatur a steely look and said "Civil Defense is now my responsibility; my parents expected me to take on the responsibility; it's my duty and my legacy.  I accept this new duty...and the risks.  Teach me what you taught my parents, and I swear on theirs and my friend's graves, I will do everything to carry on what my parents and you have done; I will be Civil Defense, until the day I die."

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Decatur, reluctantly, later showed Ryan his parents secret room at the Manhattan Civil Defense facility with several power-suits, equipment and communications equipment. A small band of Civil Defense workers helped Ryan's parents in suit repairs, alerts and support.  They promised they'd do the same for Ryan.

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Since then , Ryan has taken on his parent's (and Decatur's)  previous role as the hero, "Civil Defense" and made it his own.  Every day, Decatur trains Ryan in the use of the suit and how to be the best hero he could ever be...despite Ryan's youthful arrogance, rage and lack of patience. He has also learned to use his tech-suit and abilities beyond New York City, and has since joined G.U.A.R.D. and one of their super teams, the Aeroguardians. 

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Driven by guilt, educated by pain, and nearly alone in the world, Ryan has now dedicated himself and taken the mantle of his parents' legacy - the legacy of "Civil Defense"!

 

Recently, Ryan discovered he's not the only one wearing a Civil Defense uniform. He encountered one in Spain, a woman, and well as one the stated she was the Civil Defense for the European Union. Decatur told Ryan there were even more, but Decatur had no idea how many and how far his parents' influence and armor designs had extended to, only that 'there are more' Civil Defense heroes than just Ryan in the world.

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