MAJOR DEEJ UNIVERSE

Todd Thatcher was a party animal of a college student (and still is) at the University of California, San Francisco. Majoring in Behavioral Science, specifically in Cognitive Science, Todd was renown as the 'campus partymeister', always setting up themed parties at the different dorms, fraternities and sororities. As it turned out, one of his awesome costume parties was the catalysts that changed his life...and body...forevermore.

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Todd was preparing for a Halloween-themed costume party for the Kappa Si fraternity. 'Demons, Devils and Hell' was the theme.  Todd got a 'cool' yet cheap full body 'devil' costume, but needed some cool accouterments to adorn the costume...wristbands, fake wings...something.  He knew of an old occult shop down the road called "Occult and More" and figured he'd be able to grab something there.

 

Late that night, When Todd arrived, the store was dark and empty.  After Todd called out to see if anyone was in the store, an old man responded and came out from around the corner, carrying an old oak box.  Todd told the old man he was looking for something to accent his 'costume' for a party.

 

The old man smiled at him and said "Thatcher, right?".

 

Todd the asked, "How'd you know my name?".

 

The old man gazed around the store nervously and smiled at Todd and said, "Well, someone said 'Thatcher' will be here to get something from me, so here you are!".  

 

With that the old man gave the old oak box to Todd, stating that is was now Todd's...free of charge.

 

Quizzically, Todd opened the box to see a pair of shiny, highly decorated gold wristbands.  He wasn't about to question the transaction, but asked if the old man was expecting them back after the party, to which the old man said, "They are your legacy now.  Once yours, they will remain with you forever". At this point, the old man became very nervous and started pushing Todd out of the shop with a parting comment:

 

"Do good with them; not evil".

 

The old man door closed and hung the 'closed' sign in the window and pulled down the shades and turned off the lights. Todd thought he'd won the lottery of cool costume pieces. Todd thought to himself, 'Crazy old man should have rented them out and made at least a few bucks off of them'.  Nonetheless, Todd walked back to the campus, oblivious to several strobes of light that flashed from behind the drawn window shades of the Occult and More shop...

 

When Todd got back to his dorm, he put on his devil costume, using red makeup to touch up areas.  He got a toy pirate-like sword and stuck it in his belt.  He then took the wristbands he got at the occult shop and snapped them on. 

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That's when Todd dropped to his knees in pain.

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His skin started to burn, his mind was awash in thousands of images of scenes from what seemed like the last 500 years of life in Europe, Britain and Canada, with the most recent images (the last 50 years) in the United States.  These images flooded his mind in less than 10 seconds.  His body started changing.  The devil's horn headband dissolved into actual devil horns, his clip-on 'devil's tail' melded between his buttocks and lower spine.  His skin became as red as a devil's. While any trace of clothing burned away from his newly reddened skin. When Todd looked in the mirror, he screamed and passed out.

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An hour later, Todd's 'party buddies' found Todd in his passed out state and thought he was already drunk.  So, as good college 'party buds' do, they instead threw some leather pants on him (pants that were used for a different party a few weeks before) and dragged Todd's unconscious, barely dressed body to the campus' Halloween party.  All during this time however, Todd was not unconscious...he was trying to process the 500 years of images and thoughts cascading through his brain, overloading his synapses with experiences, sights, smells and locations that left his mind and spirit awe-struck and nearly catatonic.

 

Todd's 'party buds' plopped Todd down in an old chair made to look like a throne of Hell. Red party lights and shadowed figures danced on bed sheets behind the 'throne', giving the impression that all those on and near the throne were in Hell.

 

As the costume contest started, Todd's 'buds' took over the judging. A few scantily clad college girls, dressed as demons and she-devils, sauntered up to the stage for judging, when four figures in black and purple robes shoved their way past the costumed college girls and jumped upon the stage, reaching for Todd.  Todd's 'party buds' grabbed the robbed intruders trying to push them down off the stage only to instead be smacked and beaten by the robed figures. When one of Todd's party buds attempted to punch one of the robbed figures, the robbed figure blasted him with a purplish energy blast, knocking out Todd's party bud.

 

Upon hearing the sound of the blast, Todd, surging with a new wave of heightened instincts awoke from his catatonic state and pointed his fists at the robed figures and fired off a blast of fire, burning two of the robed figures to ashes. The remaining robed men started shooting energy bolts form their hands at Todd. Amazingly, Todd easily dodged each bolt , using his new prehensile devil's tail (which shocked him to the core) to swing from.  Todd landed in front of one of the robed men and holding out his hands to tell them to stop, blasted fire at the robed person, again, turning the figure to ash. 

 

Through all of this, the costume party-goers cheered, thinking this was all part of a show for the party. 

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The last robed figure looked over at Todd, who was now standing in front of the stage, wherein the bed sheets behind the stage were now on fire, giving the scene a TRULY hellish look.  As Todd instinctively raised his arms once again, the remaining dark figure teleported away.

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With that, Todd collapsed out of shock rather than the neural overload he'd just experienced.

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When Todd awoke this time, it was very early in the morning.  He was propped up in costume party's devil's throne with a large "1st place" ribbon hanging around his neck, along with a keg of beer and what looked to be lots of Halloween candy all over the ground and stage.  Completely confused what had happened to him or what happened at the party, he awoke his 'party buds', who were passed out beside him.

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They regaled him of the best costume party ever and the awesome fire show Todd did.  As his friends were overlapping the description of the night, Todd realized something...his body was still that of a devils.

 

As his friends continued to drone on about the party details, Todd tried to remove the wristbands but quickly discovered they were grafted to his skin and the latch that bound the wristbands closed was not longer there.  Irritated and mystified over everything (and sporting a MASSIVE headache), he walked away and went off campus, still wearing just his unbuttoned leather pants from the night before. He meandered back to the Occult and More store, where, upon arrival, was surrounded by fire trucks and police cars with yellow police tape closing off the area of what was once the store...but was now a burned down building.

 

Firefighters and police were still investigating the scene. Hanging back in the alley, Todd overheard the Fire Chief mention the time of the fire's start; it was minutes after Todd had left the shop.  Knowing that he'd be hauled in to the police station if he dared disseminate that information to the police or fire chief, Todd instead, slipped down the alleyways and side streets, trying to make his way back to his dorm room, not wanting to get involved.

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On the way back to the campus, Todd saw a young child run out into the street after a ball; the child's parent was obliviously texting on the phone, the driver was texting on her phone, thus leaving Todd as the only person to do something to save the child.  He shot out into the street with a blaze of speed he had no idea he had, picked up the child, twisted and leaped up into the air as the car careened past him below.  Todd then landed like an Olympic gymnast with a perfect 10 score.  The driver continued on, unaware of what almost happened, while the parent dropped the phone and went running to the child and Todd, hugging the child profusely, apologizing all the while.  She then looked at Todd and hugged him until she cried, stating that he was an 'angel sent from heaven' to save her daughter...that is until, the parent stepped back and got a good look at Todd looking like a devil.

 

Todd quickly came up with the 'Campus Costume Party' and that he was still wearing his costume from the night before. The parent at that point didn't care one way or another and hugged and thanked him again, realizing what she'd almost lost due to her inattention towards her daughter.

 

After all was said and done, Todd walked around to the back of an old building off of K street hoping to sort out the strange things that were going on; his body was red skinned, with a prehensile devil's tail, and what felt like real horns on the top of his head. The wristbands shot fire, and his body looked to be in the BEST shape it'd ever been in. While there, he began to experiment, leaping around with remarkable athleticism. He was able to leap over a dozen feet into the air and landed as gracefully as a professional gymnast. Todd found out his bracers not only shot fire, but could be used to create 'thermal updrafts', allowing him to hover across and upward. After awhile of speculation, he determined the 'bracers' had to be magical. He even jokingly attempted to 'pull the toy sword' from his belt that he had the previous night and incredibly a flaming sword appeared in his hand, cascading with remarkable magical flames. Realizing the costume he wore was now his new skin, and that for the time being, Todd wasn't able to remove the bracers, which seemed to have crated this new 'Devil-Man' as he called himself, he figured that THIS might be the start of an incredible adventure.  Remembering that the old man at the Occult and More shop had told him "once yours, they will remain yours forever" and to "do good with them; not evil", Todd decided that, until he was able to eventually remove this 'magical spell', he was going to live a new life as a friendly, college-going, ultimate partying "Devil-Man".

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Over the weekend, Todd accepted his new looks got a new accommodating wardrobe and costume for his new self.  He strutted around campus, showing off and giving everyone demonstrations of what he could now do.  

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Over the next few weeks, he realized how much 'true diversity' meant at UCSF; half of the student body accepted him, the other half thought he he was wearing body paint and glued-on props so as to simply get 'attention'.  Todd's parents, two gay men, accepted his new looks, but were a bit taken aback by the devil-like representation it was sure to engender.  Todd's girlfriend thought it was 'radical'.  On a date with her later that week, she also discovered that a certain body part of Todd's had also 'transformed', at least, as far as she was concerned, 'for the better'.  It didn't take long before word got out about Todd's 'body part', and, well, let's just say his relationship with most of the college girls quickly became intimate. His girlfriend was sadly demoted to 'friend' status, however, she help no ill-will towards Todd (at least, according to her).  Overnight, he became a campus icon, rallying the ports teams, 'bucking the system' and showing that the university's diversity program was so engaged that the school even accepted Todd as identifying with himself as a 'devil'. 

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The classes continued, more women slept with him, the parties got even bigger and better, and the media eventually broadcast Todd's 'Devil-Man' story on national news.  Many painted Todd as an 'attention seeker', others chided him for 'promoting the devil' and 'invoking devil worshiping on state-funded college campuses'.  Nonetheless, Todd started getting polarizing social media hits by the millions. Overwhelmed with the attention, he instead focused his energies on what he always did best - plan the next party.  That's when certain robed figures decided to attack him again.

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Trying to 'fit in' with his new looks, Todd set up a mid-term party.  During the party, once again the black and purple robed figures arrived again.  This time, these dark figures tossed Todd into some form of purple energy trap that immobilized him.  Demanding to know why they were after him, the dark figures stated that the 'Bracers of C'thulu' were ancient magical artifacts that they'd been tasked to recover.  When asked what they'd use the bands for, in a deep, eerie voice, they all said at the same time "power". 

 

At that point, two of his 'party friends', thinking this was all part of an act, decided to get in on it. Instead they were knocked back with spells from the robed ones. The crowd, again thinking this was an 'act', started chanting "Devil-Man! Devil-Man!" and began throwing food and plastic drink cups at the robed figures, distracting the dark figures enough that the trap that held Todd dissolved, freeing Todd.  Todd then drew his new 'fire sword' out of mid air and attacked the robed figures, one after the other.  Each time his sword's flame hit one of the robed figures, they turned to ash.  Several moments later, 'Devil-Man' stood victorious over the ash-heaps that were once the robed aggressors - all to a cheering party crowd, chanting "Devil-Man!".

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After two more encounters with the robed figures, Todd knew he had to get some answers and find a way to either get rid of the bracers or get the black and purple robed figures to 'go away'. As such,  Todd went to the office of one of the university's professors; Dr. Camen Catharo, a noted parapsychologist.  After a few meetings with the professor, Todd was informed that he was indeed wielding the 'Bracers of C'thulu', an ancient magical set of artifacts empowered by a demon lord named C'thulu.  The bands were designed to transmogrify its wearer's armor/outer-garments to that of what the wielder believed to be the best armor/body desired.  It was also discovered that over the last seven centuries, the bands had been used mostly for evil, but at times, for good, by priests and sages.  The bracers didn't actively project evil, but again, were usually influenced by evil; this was a design allowed by C'thulu so that anyone wearing the bracers could be turned from their belief by anyone else, especially those with evil intent. Sadly, the most important discovery shocked Todd to his core:

 

The only way for the bracers to be removed was upon the death of the host bearer.

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Todd had to die to remove them.

 

Overwhelmed with the information, the professor mentioned that these new powers might be used for good, and mentioned about the live TV broadcast of a local hero known as "Protechtor' pleading for help from anybody willing and capable of  stopping multiple super-villains, mercenaries and thugs from doing untold damage and death.  Todd quickly realized where Protechtor's location was only 10 minutes down the road, and as such, leapt out the doctor's 10-story office window and 'thermal drafted' his way to the battle site, where he and several other 'heroes' joined Protechtor on that legendary day to create the latest incarnation of a super team called the "Protectors".

 

Today, Todd is still going to college, being the 'life of the party', being diversity's 'poster (devil) child' and working with the Protectors to help save the Bay area, the state of California, the United States of America and of course, the world...just ask him!

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