Red Valkyrie and Winter Wolf: Or what high-tech gadgets can a dog use? - Writers Forum

WriterDude · 04-10-2007, 09:34 AM

I posted a while ago about a woman who found a lot of high-tech gadgets and started a rather bad career as a superhero like Batman or Catwoman. She's not a hero in any way, but not a thief either. More like just having some fun until she can figure out what to do with her new life.

Anyway, I want to keep it as realistic as possible, so it will be based on modern day. Anything that happens in the story can in theory happen in real life as well, and all those gadgets could exist in real life.

This said, I was thinking a bit about the character. Having just one character can be a bit bad, especially as there doesn't seem to be a villain either. But giving her a partner kinda goes against the entire point, so what to do?

And then it hit me. The dog. She was already walking the dog when she fell into the well, so we know she has one. But would it be possible to turn the dog into her partner? Batman has Robin, Deadpool's got Cable (techincally his former enemy, but they seem to be over that), Captain America has Bucky, Green Lantern has Speedy. The problem is all of these are just other heroes, so why can't Red Valkyrie have her dog? Come to think of it, the black ninja guy from GI Joe had a wolf, didn't he?

Question is what gadgets a dog can use? The two of them needs to be able to easily communicate easily, and a dog uses body language and facial expressions as much as sound. But how do you communicate through body language if you can't see each other? Brainwaves? It's risky, but it's the best thing I can think of right now.

It might need weapons, but what weapons can a dog use? I read two Fables stories a while ago about all the fairy tale creatures living in hiding in the real world, and the non-humanoids starting a war against the others. A smith managed to adjust a lot of those weapons to fit onto the non-human creatures, so perhaps something like that might work. If a pig can use a shotgun, I'm quite sure a dog can use something simples. Besides, if you watch Evil Dead 2, Ash is using a shotgun in one hand and chainsaw where the other hand was supposed to be. (untill he chopped it off due to some demonic possessions and that stuff. A bit messy, that part.)

Anyway, do any of you have some ideas on how to turn a dog into a superhero? Neither the dog nor woman will be a "superhero" as we are used to, but more like "Can in theory be almost heroic with proper training".

crazed scribe · 04-10-2007, 10:26 AM

Hi Writer Dude!
I like your story idea for red valkyrie. Why not have a dog that can bark morse code? It would have to be a well trained dog but I think it is possible. Or it could have had the knowledge placed in its mind by a computer chip. On the weopons side of things why not have electric rods fitted into it's teeth or in a brace around it's teeth so when it bites someone they are electrocuted? Or Lasers attached to it's shoulder that are bark activated. There a few ideas for you to have a fiddle with. Good luck!

WriterDude · 04-10-2007, 12:22 PM

First of all, the idea is to have a young woman who works as a secretary and has a rather dull life accidentally discover a lot of high-tech gadgets. Naturally, this means she will not exactly be good at the superhero lifestyle. This also includes her dog, Pepper. It is not specially trained in anything and isn't particullary agressive. It will protect the woman (Chloe, btw) if needed, and even got "promoted" to Sgt Pepper after the Beatles album a few years ago when it woke up at night when the aparentment was on fire.

What I need is a way for Chloe and Pepper to communicate two-ways over a distance, even if they can't see each other. Pepper is smaller and more agile than Chloe, so he can go several places she can't. Air ducks, small windows, things like that. He also runs faster and longer than her, as well as the fighting abilities, of course.

Basically, can you turn a dog from a lazy, couchwarmer during day to stealthy high-tech ninja-dog thingy at night and back again the next day without special training?

If you like games, you might have played Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. Those guys use a cross-com in their helmets, so everyone can see what the others see at all times. This could be very handy in a small, dog-size helmet, headband or something. If I add a small microphone into it, Chloe can also give commands to Pepper through it. But how can he give orders to her? Let's say he's spying for her in an abandoned factory, being smaller, easier to hide and all that. He see danger and knows Chloe might be in trouble if he can't warn her. How would he do that?

Not sure about electrocuting the enemies, though. Neither Chloe nor Pepper are superheroes in any way, and neither likes violence. Finding the gadgets are most of a curse for them, as they can't leave them there for anyone to find, and they hide them. Can they turn them in to the government? It could be risky. Can they not turn them in? So they end up using the gadgets themselves, but for what? Now that's the question. Even they don't know.

crazed scribe · 04-10-2007, 01:08 PM

How about giving the dog body armour with a cam on board and it could give off a tracking signal so chloe always knows where he is. These suits could include microphone and speakers for contact and she could start training pepper the commands and part of your story could include the struggle she has to take on board to train him (just an idea). Hope their any use.

WriterDude · 04-10-2007, 04:51 PM

Hm... now that's an idea. The body armor has to be light enough to flexible enough to not prevent movement, but it could be done.Thanks!

Any other ideas?

Jericho's Downfall · 04-18-2007, 09:34 AM

the dog can wear those cool claws you had in the Red Valkyrie missions earlier and btw...are you ever gunna actually write this in a full story?