ooc: Vatheon app

[copesetic]

☆ Player - - -

( Reiko ) : HERE
( Personal DW ) : reikofanel
( Age ) : 26
( Timezone ) : Pacific
( Other Characters ) : Dark Link (Sola) ( replicatedcourage ) | The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

☆ Character - - -

( Character's Name ) : Albert Heinrich aka 004
( Character's Age ) : Around 70. Looks early 30s
( Series ) : Cyborg 009
( Canon Point ) : End of episode 32 "Man or Machine"

( History ) :
Albert Heinrich’s backstory begins when he’s already in his 30’s and living in soviet-controlled East Germany. Based on this and through a little math, it’s safe to assume that he grew up during the Nazi regime and WWII. He was likely a member of the Jungvolk, a division of the Hitler Youth for 10-14 year olds. His family was also probably very poor, as was most of Germany at the time.

At some point after the war, Albert got engaged to a woman named Hilda and they made plans to escape to the other side of the Berlin Wall sometime around 1963 (date based on when the original Cyborg 009 manga was released), due to the extremely poor conditions in the communist controlled East Berlin. In order to do so, Albert posed as a circus worker and had Hilda hide in the back of the truck. Everything seemed to go smoothly as Hilda wasn’t discovered and the forged papers seemed to be in order to the border guard. Unfortunately, Albert started to drive off without his papers and when the guard attempted to flag him down to return them, he assumed they’d been found out and slammed on the gas, careening through the checkpoint and forcing the guards to fire upon the truck. The vehicle spun out of control, cashed, and caught fire. Hilda died in the event, having been shot by the border guards on accident as she hid in the back of the truck. Albert held her as she died, having been riddled with bullets and crash injuries himself so severe that he passed out soon after.

When he came to, Albert was more machine than man. Given the designation “004,” Albert found he had been taken and experimented on by the criminal organization Black Ghost. They replaced his right arm with a machine gun, his left with a laser combat knife he can flip out at will, and his upper legs and knees with missile launchers. His entire torso, because of the damage from the crash, was also replaced with cybernetic parts in order to keep him alive. During this time, 004 became incredibly cynical and hopeless. If it weren’t for the other two cyborgs created at the same time as he was, he likely would have simply allowed himself to be used for Black Ghost’s schemes and looked for an opportunity to die easy, but 002 and 003 helped him to regain some of his will to live.

Unfortunately, during a battle exercise, 004’s body began to reject some of the cybernetic implants, causing him extreme pain. Because the technology at the time was not advanced enough and the other 00 series cyborgs were also at risk for rejection, cyborgs 001 through 004 were placed in cryogenic sleep until such a time as the technology advanced enough to repair them.

Flash forward to 2001 and the first four are unfrozen by Doctor Gilmore, formerly the head of the cyborg soldier project who’d worked on them all and had a change of heart while the original four had been in stasis. Since then, five other 00 series cyborgs had been created and Gilmore convinced them all to escape together. Their freedom was hard won however, and the cyborg team remained under constant siege for quite some time before managing to infiltrate the Black Ghost’s main facility and do away with what they thought was the organization’s leader.

After Black Ghost’s defeat, there are still remnants of the cyborg soldier project to mop up. One of these remnants is the Mythos cyborgs, created by Doctor Gaia, who’s approach towards cybernetic augmentation differs theologically from Doctor Gilmore’s. While Gilmore sought to enhance and improve existing abilities and allow the cyborgs as people to determine how best to use these, Gaia thought a person’s past experiences would hinder their abilities as cyborgs and so wiped the memories of each subject in his experiments, instead leading them to believe they were the Grecian pantheon of gods. The truth is eventually discovered and the Mythos cyborgs die tragically.

For a time after that, the 00 cyborgs’ lives are relatively peaceful, some going back to their home countries and some staying together with Doctor Gilmore. 004 is one of the ones to go home. He works various blue-collar jobs, trucking and the like, and keeps a shabby but serviceable apartment without many creature comforts.

During this period 004 receives a call from who he thinks is Doctor Gilmore asking him to investigate some strange goings on in an old castle in the German countryside. Once there, 004 is forced to fight a robotic version of himself, a tireless juggernaut with all of the same weaponry and physical capabilities as 004. It’s a long and hard battle, but 004 finally wins not through overwhelming strength, but because he had the compassion to save a falling owl’s nest instead of dodging to where the robot thought he would be. The robot’s brain hiccupped and 004 was able to use the opening to destroy it. Standing over the sparking mess, 004 was confronted by Doctor Gilmore, who said he’d constructed the robot to prove to 004 that he could not compete with modern technology and that he should upgrade himself into a more powerful weapon. Convinced Gilmore would never do such a thing, 004 similarly executed the Doctor, which turned out to be a robot double as well.

After he thanks the owls for saving him (?!) and turns to dramatically walk out of the castle and not look back is when I will be taking him from to play in Vatheon.

( Personality ) :
Albert is the third oldest member of the cyborg team (though the oldest if you count being frozen for 40 years) and he’s had a fairly harsh life, which all serves to make him fairly taciturn. He’s not the most talkative or the most warm and cuddly person, but that doesn’t mean he’s standoffish or rude. In fact, Albert simply reserves his words for when they’re most needed and keeps an eye on most things in order to keep everyone safe. Despite his own beliefs, he has a big heart and really does want to see the world at peace even if he’s more of a realist and doesn’t believe it will ever actually happen.

The biggest hurdles for Albert to overcome in his life are the loss of his fiancée and the loss of his humanity. The first he comes to terms with during a battle with another 00 series cyborg, 0011, that was sent after the group. This cyborg was manipulated through the use of his wife and child to do Black Ghost’s bidding and when that came to light, Albert hesitated in shooting him. Because of that hesitation, 0011 was able to escape and was short circuited by Black Ghost to go after the cyborg team again, a fact which 002 reminds 004 of in typical blunt fashion. With most of the team down due to a paralyzing poison and 004 slowly succumbing to it himself, Albert ends up finally destroying 0011 by hooking his engagement ring (which he still wore on a chain around his neck) onto the trigger of his gun and being able to fire it that way, protecting his team. Or, more accurately, protecting his new family.

During a break between fights with 0011, Albert has a short conversation with Joe concerning trying to bring the other 00 series cyborgs that had been coming after them to their side, away from Black Ghost. When Joe says he’s not sure they should bother trying at all, Albert agrees and cites that the enemy could kill them while they’re trying to convince them to switch sides, but that he wants to believe it could work. Saying that he wants to believe the best but accepts the worst is a defining personality trait for Albert and the way that he works within the world.

His second biggest issue, that of being human or a machine, is addressed in several episodes and he has the same dichotomic view of it as he does of optimism and pessimism, only here it causes him more problems than that view does. On the one hand, he still feels, and he acknowledges that he has emotions like anyone else and clings to the fact that robots cannot do the same in his estimation. On the other, he’s more metal than flesh and even his own reflection reminds him of that on a daily basis. He has to cover himself neck to toe in order to pass in ordinary society and even has to keep the fingerprints for his gun hand on a synthetic flesh glove. That is decidedly abnormal and makes him feel isolated at times. Because of this he has issues sharing his name even while he’s somewhat uncomfortable with his number. He doesn’t feel much like Albert Heinrich anymore and so if someone must call him something, unless he trusts them or has some sort of strong positive feelings for them, he’ll give his cyborg number instead.

That being said, Albert is quite likely to make sardonic jokes about any topic at hand. He is not without a sense of humor and he keeps watch over the rest of the group in a surprisingly caring way. For instance, during an alien invasion, when 002 is staying behind with 005 to watch over their alien ally charges and 002 has been going a bit off the reservation, 004 asks 005 to keep an eye on 002 not only for the sake of the aliens but also for Jet’s own sake so he doesn’t do anything he regrets later. He’s also the first person to comfort 003 at the end of the series.

In fact, he shares a special sort of camaraderie with the first three cyborgs, the four of them having all been experimented on and then cryogenically frozen, so they’re all out of their times. Jet especially he works very well with, their powers complimenting each other nicely. Albert proves himself to be fairly fearless in letting Jet pick him up and fly him around at superhuman speeds in order to take out areal opponents with his machine gun or knee rockets, and even being chucked at targets midair and subsequently caught by 002 mid-descent.

( Strengths/Weaknesses ) :
Strengths:
Albert is a one man arsenal. He has a machine gun in his right arm with the fingers as barrels, a combat knife he can flip out and retract at will in his left hand, mini rockets in each knee, and his upper body from shoulders to waist is metal plated. He’s got a brilliant tactical mind as well, able to sort out opponents next moves or theorize on what will happen next in a given scenario. Because of his predominantly mechanical body, he is resistant to most toxins, poisons, and disease and on certain areas of his body – namely the ones housing weaponry – he can feel pressure but no pain. Lastly, his brain has been enhanced with a translator that can process any language so he can understand it. (I would say just Earth language, but they encounter aliens and can communicate just fine so it could be more akin to the Star Trek universal translator.)

Weaknesses:
Emotionally, while Albert is attempting to move on from much of the bad that’s gone on in his life, he has a hard time doing it. He will often get bogged down in memories and self loathing which causes him to shut people out and fall into an overly logical and mechanical way of thinking. Physically, while he is quite the powerhouse, he can have things go wrong. Sometimes his body acts up around the cybernetics and so he needs consistent maintenance to stay functional (especially since he’s resistant to upgrading beyond his original cybernetic parts; they’re predominantly from the cold war era aside from what needed to be changed after he woke up from cryosleep so his body wouldn’t reject them), plus he needs to reload on ammunition to continue to use his guns and rockets. On top of that he’s effected by electricity more than an average person and while he’s resistant, he is not immune to poison and sickness. As I mentioned in the strength section he can’t feel pain in his predominantly metal parts but he can’t feel pleasure there either.

( Other Important Facts ) :
Albert plays the piano, a skill from before he was augmented. He had to learn to play again after his hands were replaced and it took quite a bit of effort, but he finally got to around the same skill level and he keeps it up not only to maintain his fine motor function with his hands despite little to no feeling in his gun hand, but because he enjoys it as well. He also reads classical literature, paints, and skis as hobbies, though he’s not great at painting.

( Sample ) :
Starfishbucks sample!

( Questions? Comments? Concerns? ) :