ZippyWharrgarbl

OOC: I apologise in advance for Nato's inevitable descent into the proverbial Mystery Puzzle Pit of Despair.

I have been waiting so long for this. You would not believe.

IC: ??? - Near Vex's Landing Site

This was not good.

His hands shook as he held his gun out, towards the creature that eyed him hungrily. He wasn't a fighter, blast it, why did his vehicle have to break down now?! He gulped and tried to steady his hands. Perhaps he could... scare it off? Make it think there was something more interesting to play with?

He was about to retreat further into the wreck for shelter and time to think when he caught sight of something. He couldn't believe his eyes. A Hero, standing by a fancy ship! He couldn't believe his luck! He thanked his lucky stars and waved towards the figure.

"Help me!" called the being that looked and sounded exactly like Akiyama Makuro.

~

IC: Wilbur Flood - Ocean

Flood dove low, slinking through the sand to the silhouette of a Jaw Beast. As he did so, he holstered his blaster so as to have a two-handed grip on his harpoon, the blunt end of which he brought down towards the brain's spines.

OOC: I imagine Flood would know about the spine thing, since he likely would've participated in defending against the Brain Attack on Makuhero City. Specifically the underwater part.

IC: Wilbur Flood - Ocean

Flood gestured down, giving Furno a puzzled look. Seven Jaw Beasts could be a trial to fight, but perhaps if they didn't just rush in... He glanced around, and then got an idea. He gestured for Furno to stay back, drew his blaster, and fired- not at the beasts themselves, but at the sand around them. This caused sand to billow up, providing cover for the Heroes to begin their attack.

IC: Wilbur Flood - In Water

As soon as he saw that Furno was in the water, Flood dove below, webbed hands and large, flat feet moving him at speed down towards deeper water. He felt so free, so alive. He did a roll as he slowed his pace for Furno.

He glanced around. Yes, this looked about right, but were there brained beasts around? A hand carefully lifted to reach for his harpoon.

IC: Wilbur Flood - Dropship

The impact of the ship on the water jostled Wilbur, but his seatbelt stopped him from slipping anywhere. He righted himself and climbed to his feet carefully. He took a moment to close his eyes and feel the gentle rocking of the ship, then smiled at Furno. "It has been far too long."

He opened the drop ship doors, meaning to dive, but in shifting his stance he caused himself to slip, falling sideways into the water with a started yelp. Less than dignified, but he was in the water. He bobbed up and grinned up at Furno. "The water's great!"

OOC: Zippy, I'm really getting out-smarted on the oceanography. What are you thinking of here, because at the moment it's kinda flying over my head.

 

OOC: I'm not really planning anything. First I just wanted Flood to have something to do other than sit quietly in the dropship and to show he knew a lot about the ocean so they wouldn't have to search randomly. It really surprised me that you actually offered relevant information, so I played along with that. I guess the thing to take out of it is Flood found places to start looking and is curious about why the brains are only sending out a few attackers at a time instead of attacking in a large group or hiding away entirely.

IC: Wilbur Flood - Dropship

"Odd." He frowned. "There's not much tidal activity, meaning there's little in the way of an ocean cycle and in nutrient cycling... Very odd. Still, I should be able to track down some ideal places."

Since the ocean was where Flood was made to be, and aquatic missions were few and far between, Flood studied his specificity often. The things he learned did come in handy occasionally. He marked a few select spots. "These would be good places to start. The marine animals don't seem to be attacking en masse, instead in small groups. Either the brains are only catching them in small groups or they are only sending out a few at a time. I suspect, if they are simply hanging back, they could be found around these areas."

IC: Wilbur Flood - Dropship

Flood pulled on his slime-free gloves with a snap and fiddled with the screen. "If it's all right, I'd like to use this for a second. If I can get some information about their tidal zones and seasons, and find something about the animals' habits, we might be able to get a rough idea of 'hot spots' to try looking in. Brains can read the memories of the host- hopefully that extends to their behaviours, too."

IC: Wilbur Flood - Dropship

Flood twiddled his thumbs, glancing out the window occasionally. He finally said, "Do we have any information about where the brained beasts are originating from in the ocean? Or anything about the oceanography of the place?"

IC: Wilbur Flood - Dropship

Flood stared in the direction the other Hero had been for a moment. "... Huh. Well. Shall we head off?"

OOC: Aight well here's Quark's profile, as I said I'd put up. She probably won't be used any time soon, but since I mentioned her I'd better make sure she's up to snuff. Also, who knows? There could be an emergency or something, and I'll need another Hero.

Hero Profile:  
Name: Dorothy Quark

Powers and Abilities: Quark is able to survive in the cold vacuum of space indefinitely- however, this does not extend to extreme conditions, such as flying close to stars. Additionally, she’s been highly trained in just about any space-oriented skill- from flying spacecraft to zero-gravity fighting.

Weapon(s): She carries a laser blaster- it’s as functional in space as she is- and a pretty nifty light sword. It’s basically a blade that functions as an ordinary sword, but is made up of solid light. It’s a science-fictioney kind of sword, but it doesn’t have anything special about it. But it can turn on and off, and the blade tends to have a good bit of force when materialising.

Appearance: I don’t have a picture right now, but imagine a particularly sour Buzz Lightyear, because that’s pretty close. Quark is slightly bulkier than the average Hero due to her extra armour plating to protect from the harsh environment of space. This plating does not extend to her face and head- her armour has a retractable, reinforced, transparent dome that can click over her head in a manner reminiscent of an astronaut’s helmet. She does have thrusters built into her boots to propel her when in zero gravity, but they don’t work that well when on planets with average or high gravity.

Her armour is shaded in white and bright green, with purple eyes and Hero Core (the Buzz Lightyear comparisons never end). She often looks surly and somewhat tired of things in general, and it is rare to see a smile upon her face.

Bio: Quark, leader of Thumper’s and Flood’s team, was once a lot more chipper about her job (before the aforementioned Heroes even existed), but an incident involving her team losing a veteran Hero and the team’s entire group of rookies has impacted her immensely. She had been the one to order the veteran Hero to leave the rookies be, as the situation had left them in a position where they could not be saved, but the veteran tried to rescue them anyway. As a result, they were killed, and Quark felt it was her responsibility to have done something to prevent it- but she couldn't, and for that she felt that she could not be put in charge of a full team again.

When she and the remaining member of her team- another veteran- had new rookies join their ranks, she did not trust herself to defend them on missions anymore. As a result, their team rarely operates as a whole, instead the specialised Heroes being sent with more experienced teams requiring their particular skill set, deciding that they would be better at protecting the rookies than she would be. Quark, however, continues to train her team as rigorously as a high-ranking team’s leader would, determined they would be able to handle themselves if the need arose.

She may be rough and abrasive, but she has a real soft spot for her team. She cares deeply for their wellbeing and her ire is usually well-meaning if they have worried her. If anyone else tries to seriously threaten her rookies, though, she is ruthless.

Her days are spent training, working missions, or reading.

~

Before anyone asks: According to the chapter books, plain Heroes cannot survive for very long in space.

OOC: Nato, is Vex in the right ship?

IC: Wilbur Flood - Dropship Bay

Flood glanced down at his hands. "I think that would be best, yes."

IC: Wilbur Flood - Dropship Bay

Flood appreciated the gesture- or lack thereof. He smiled. "I'm looking forward to working with you, Furno, sir. I'm ready to go."

IC: Eloise Thumper - Hero Factory

Thumper stepped off the dropship and barely got a chance to take in her beloved home before being yanked towards the Hero Factory proper by her irate team leader, Dorothy Quark. Quark was berating her in an endless stream, which was fair- Thumper had barely had time to leave a message before hurrying off on her mission.

"Where in the GALAXY have you been?! We have been worried SICK, Eloise Thumper!"

"Sorry, Quark," Thumper managed to get in between Quark's pauses for breath. "It was an emergency-"

"Emergency?! I'll show YOU what an emergency looks like if you ever rush off without so much as a word!"

"I wrote an email..."

"Did you hit 'Send'?"

Thumper hunched her good shoulder and grinned sheepishly. "Oops..."

"I swear, Thumper, I will take your wrestling mask away for a month if you do that again!"

OOC: Dorothy Quark isn't going to be a playable, fighting character anytime soon. Since all I've noted here is a name and status in Hero Factory- team leader- I figured it'll be all right to mention her without a character sheet. Just in case, I'll send her character sheet along when I'm on a device which can access it. Also if this isn't allowed, let me know and I'll edit out the bottom part until she gets approved.

She's not anything OP, don't worry. She's a Hero designed for space missions, her main deal is being able to survive the vacuum of space.

IC: Wilbur Flood

"Yes, sir!" Flood quickly headed out of the room and was about to run to the dropships when he remembered: he'd have to find a tarp or something. The last time he'd forgotten ended in having to pay for the ship's seats to be cleaned. He took a slight detour and still made it to the dropship bay in good time. Before heading in proper, he checked he had everything: blaster on his belt, harpoon securely fastened to his back. He smiled and walked in.

OOC: I agree with Fishers in that maybe a super amazing physical form isn't a good idea. I really like the idea of the guy being transferred through computers and stuff, though!

Also, if it's all right, when Thumper gets all patched up I want to alter some stuff. First, I'm probably going to give her duct tape or electrical tape or something similar. It'll do nothing for repairs, but she'll be able to cover up sparking or exposed parts and thus be less of a hazard if she ends up in some kind of water. Second, as soon as I work out how she's actually going to carry her weapons, I want to change hers from powergloves to some kind of unholy boxing glove/brass knuckles abomination. Like her last weapons, she'll probably not use them at all, but hey.

OOC: I've been meaning to ask, but was there some kind of timeskip already? Since Ghidora's on the planet and all.

OOC: Thumper hasn't quit wrestling. She does it between Hero missions. And I think Dina Saruyama mentioned in T. Pecs' profile that Thumper ultimately won their fight- they were just pretty evenly matched for the most part. That second part may be wrong, though. Main thing is Thumper is still very much in the wrestling gig. She's just less present in the arena when compared to full-time wrestlers.

Also, in wrestling, Thumper goes by La Puno de Hierro. It's a stage name. To be fair though, that was mentioned in the RPG itself, not her profile.

IC: Wilbur Flood - Briefing Room

Was it wrong to be excited? Flood felt terrible about the attacks, in the case of both the creatures and the civilians, but he was actually being called on a mission of great importance, underwater. That hadn't happened since Makuhero City was attacked by brains, and some of them got into the underground water pipes. And he'd be working with an Alpha Team Hero!

"No, sir," Flood grinned. "Those brains won't know what hit them."

IC: Wilbur Flood

"Oh. Sure." Flood couldn't tell if that was sarcasm or not, but he was definitely happy to be out on a real mission for once. He followed Zib towards the briefing room, trying to avoid eye contact with a janitor glaring daggers at him. He hoped it was sarcasm, it had been too long since something important had taken place underwater.

OOC: Aaaa sorry I was away from electronic devices for a few hours

Also I appreciate that the Fox Sports robot is absolutely canon in the Hero Factory universe. I accept it as 100% canon forever. Hopefully one of our next missions will involve him. Perhaps we will have to best him at Sports. Not a specific one, just in general.

IC: Wilbur Flood - Communications Hub

Zib would find Flood standing behind a Hero operating a communications console, leaning over it with a grip on the chair. The other Hero was, notably, leaning forwards to avoid touching the slime. Flood turned at Zib's approach.

"Oh, were you looking for me?" asked Flood. "Sorry. We were just looking for news about Thumper, our teammate. She went on this big mission a while ago, ran off in a big rush, and we heard that there were a lot of bad guys and explosives and the planet might explode... just wanted to make sure she was okay. We just got word the Heroes were leaving the planet, so hopefully she's with them. What's up, Zib?"

His eyes lit up. "Is there a mission you need me for? An aquatic one, maybe?"

OOC: Aquatic Heroes are, collectively, the Aquaman of Hero Factory.

OOC: Confusingly, Heroes have been shown to have at least a passing knowledge of food. I don't get it, either, but they reference food at least twice in Savage Planet. One mention even implies they eat- Nex (I think?) replies to "This'll be a piece of cake" with "Mm, cake". Hero Factory is a mysterious enigma.

So point is they'll probably know what a marshmallow is. I'm glad I could be here for this incredibly vital information.

OOC: The Quaza is part of the energy core, which seems to be like a battery. I don't think it distributes crystal anywhere. If it did, where's it going to get it from? The core? You'd run out of core pretty quick.

OOC: I actually had a question about Marrow: it mentions it drinks Quaza. How do you drink a crystal? Unless the guy liquidises it first, like a spider. That'd be spooky.

It's a pretty cool design otherwise, don't get me wrong. The Quaza thing was just a little confusing.

OOC: Please help it won't let me like T. Pecs more than once

IC: Eloise Thumper

Thumper flexed her arms, grinning, and then felt a strange shift in her shoulder plating. A moment later, the arm that had been sparking for half the mission gave a good zap, a few puffs of smoke, and fell limp. She experimentally lifted her wrist and dropped it again before laughing awkwardly. "I... guess I'd better see about heading back home, too."

Thumper followed after a few other Heroes on their way out of the lair.

OOC: Would there be enough time between this mission and the next for Thumper to get repaired? I really want to use her for the next mission.

IC: Eloise Thumper - RMR

"Good thinking," Thumper grinned. "They're not gonna be building any more weapons here, not for a long time!"

OOC: I assume each Hero would have a different name, though, since they're all named by the same person/group, rather than individual people naming their kids the same thing out of coincidence. I assume there's a list or something they go through.