Donald Lewis originally ran a small family business with his brother Cade (aka the Armourer and future director of The Knights Forge). Whilst Donald handled the administration and day to day operations, Cade did what he did best, design outfits.

These however were no ordinary outfits for the business specialised in unique military apparel as used by private security firms.

When it came to designing such clothing Cade was a genius. There simply was nobody better in the business since he had was able to keep on coming up with new materials that could suit specific needs. Though unique and well respected the business did not have massive cash flow and only employed a mere handful of people.

Donald wanted more money but Cade was quite content with his lot in life but had not noticed that the business was slipping further and further into debt. To save the business Donald was desperate for a big contract to bail them out of trouble. Then during one of his nights gambling at the club he was approached by a well to do gentleman who wanted Cade to design some specialist suits for an Alpha hero team he was forming.

With big money on the table and a chance to help the community by establishing a new hero group, this seemed the dream contract for Donald. Cade however was suspicious but Donald was able to convince his brother everything was above board.

The brothers met the team of eight and after several fittings and nine months had passed the outfits were complete and the company received a significant boost in funds.

In time the same gentleman approached with another request but when Cade started work on the outfits he saw for the first time his original designs he built for the team in action, with Alpha Strike. Realising he was now creating outfits for criminals Cade refused to continue. Donald too wanted to get out but feared his employers and in the end his fears were justified for his wife, Yuna, was kidnapped.

Cade had no option but to complete the “order” but once this was done, Yuna was not released and then it became known that their employers were Black Shadow. They made it quite clear that she would never be free whilst the syndicate needed their expertise.

It was then that Donald formulated a risky plan of action. He wanted Cade to build him a specialist suit so he could rescue Yuna. Cade refused as he felt what Donald was doing would be suicide. He countered by suggesting that they both fight together but Donald said that whilst the world would not mourn his death if he failed it would be a tragic loss for heroes if Cade were to get killed.

Though Cade tried, Donald would not change his mind and reluctantly Cade got to work on building a suit for his brother whilst still pretending to work for Black Shadow. Both brothers believed that Black Shadow had kept Yuna in the same city since the syndicate regularly communicated and showed video feeds of Yuna whenever they wanted to “encourage” them to keep working. Such regular communications allowed Donald and Cade to learn that wherever the messages were being sent from it was still within Atlantica. At first the pair though this had been an oversight on the part of the syndicate until the realised the syndicate believed they had all the cards so it did not matter if the brothers knew where she was.

After a great deal of time and work the suit was finished and Donald had learned where Yuna was being held. He then waited one night atop the Grand Bridge across the Central river and committed suicide after attempts to negotiate with the police failed. Donald’s death certainly got the media’s attention and gave Black Shadow pause for thought.

Donald though was not dead and used subterfuge to become Blue Flame. Using the suit he mounted an assault on the stronghold and was successful in snatching his wife back. Donald knew as soon as he took her Black Shadow would know it was either him or Cade had been responsible so after delivering Yuna to Cade he flew off into the night to wait for Black Shadow’s response. Before leaving Donald made Cade promise that he would keep Yuna safe and knowing what his brother was going to promise Cade felt obliged to keep that promise.

As expected the syndicate deployed Alpha Strike and from the top of a bridge across the central river, Blue Flame fought a valiant if not hopeless battle. Other heroes would eventually arrive and join in until Alpha Strike were forced to withdraw and by that time and drew Cade and Yuna had managed to escape the city.

Since Donald could never be seen with them again the pair relocated to Pacifica without him under new aliases. If things were not bad enough by then Cade learned that much of the old business had been raided by criminals and many of his designs had found their way into criminal hands. Concerned that villains with access to some of his specialist prototypes could seriously affect the role Alpha heroes played, Cade felt obligated to redress the balance.

Whenever a hero piqued his interest he would reach out to them anonymously and then once they responded he would employ a ruse to test if they were “genuine”. Then if thing panned out correctly he would design and build them one of his suits. With limited income and having to be careful not to expose himself to Black Shadow, such designs took quite some time to finalise.

All the while he was doing this Yuna was going out of her mind sick with worry about her husband. Occasionally word about the Blue Flame’s activities would appear on the news but that was not enough. She wanted to be with Donald but Cade managed to persuade her to stay safe with him and help in outfitting heroes by running the hardware store, their only means of income and the perfect “disguise” for his other activities.

In time word got around about heroes become supplied with outfits. By that time Cade had become known under the guise of “The Armourer” and though Black Shadow suspected they were one and the same they had other more pressing issues to deal with than chasing down one designer.

Though the syndicate had lost interest in Cade, he became of interest to Gary Wynter and McCabe who were trying to create the Knight’s Forge. Eventually the pair tracked Cade down and he agreed to become part of their idea. He relocated again and took Yuna in tow but as the Knight’s Forge became a reality she yearned to find her husband. In the end she demanded Cade create her an outfit or else she would expose the Knight’s Forge to its enemies. Though Cade never believed she would ever carry out her threat as she was acting out of desperation he realised she was not happy nor would she ever be without her husband.

Though he had always promised Donald to keep her safe, the only way now to do that was to ensure that when she set out to find Donald she would stand the best chance of keeping out of harm. That meant he did not have a choice and had to give Yuna what she wanted. Cade therefore built her the Dragonfly outfit.

Before looking for Donald, Cade insisted she at least get some basic training and this was arrange with Gary Wynter in his role as the leader of the Phoenix Alliance. Once they had turned her into an accomplished fighter she set off on her quest to find Donald.

This took several months and when she did eventually find him he was in Europa. Interfering in one of Blue Flame’s battles certainly got his attention but when she removed her helmet after his opponent was defeated, Donald was filled with mixed emotions. He never wanted her to have the life he had now taken but having seen her in action and finding out everything she had done to get to ‘that’ moment he wanted her so badly that he could not send her away.

The pair now work together as armoured heroes and though others might regard their relationship as a potential weakness it in fact gives them their biggest strength.