Dead Cruiser

Young Justice Renegades: A Team Worth Dying For

Loving this posting pace.

Young Justice Renegades: A Team Worth Dying For

Conor's inscrutable device was activated, and Dandelion was promptly dropped through a hole in the floor. Their dog skin yelped reflexively in surprise, before hitting the floor with their legs splayed in an unceremonious heap. They gave a low whine as they picked themselves up off the floor and tried to take in their surroundings, mildly regretting picking such a clumsy skin for this mission. The bank was almost completely darkened, and was mostly quiet save for Julian barking out information as he acquired it from his little device. Dandelion performed their own reconnaissance, sniffing the air intently, trying to pick up whatever trace scents the robbers left behind. Stale smells of blood and sweat hung in the air, alluding to an earlier struggle. Multiple individual scents mixed together in a melange, making it difficult to tell who they were and when they had been there. One thing was for certain, there was something very... off about most of these human smells. There was a strange, sweet smell in the air, not dissimilar to sugar, which Dandy couldn't quite place.

Dandelion's investigations were broken by one of the robbers bursting through a wall and charging at them. The sudden noise and shock stunned Dandy, leaving them standing helplessly by as Conor and Charity were tackled by him. Julian produced a human weapon, a firearm, and fired a few rounds at their assailant, to seemingly no effect. Dandy winced at the incredibly loud noise of the gun, before Julian as well was sent flying by the hypertrophic bank robber.

Seeing Julian in harm's way awakened something in Dandy, or more accurately in the dog skin they were living in. Dandelion recognized these as pack instincts, and let them take over, content to surf the wave of the dog's territorial aggression. Adrenaline flooded Dandy's canine muscles, quickening their pulse and spiking their blood pressure. Cortisol released Dandy's vast stores of glucose into their blood, filling them with volitile energy. Dandy's skin growled, hackles raising and lips pulling back to reveal snarling yellow fangs. Then, as the robber was likely even noticing the angry dog closing in on him, Dandy lunged.

Dandelion knew that the most effective place to sink their teeth into the robber would be the throat, but despite the exaggerated size of the dog skin, Dandy would never be able to reach up that high while the robber was standing. The dog skin seemed to know this too, and so impulsively went for the most vulnerable target in reach: the robber's crotch. More accurately, his femoral artery, as the dog's teeth sunk into the flesh of the robber's inner thigh with all of Dandy's strength. Bullets had little effect on the robber earlier, and Dandy's teeth had similarly little effect, but Dandy's incredible muscular strength at least kept them firmly latched onto the robber's leg, despite his reflexive attempts to shake them off. The dog's hunting instincts were going mad with bloodlust, shouting at Dandy's higher consciousness to sink their teeth in deeper, to rip out his hamstring and then his throat, but Dandy suppressed these instincts. They were only here to protect Julian, not to decide which of these humans would live or die. They would leave that decision to other humans.

Young Justice Renegades: A Team Worth Dying For

@Hillan Are these guys juicing with Venom? Asking because Dandy would be able to tell in a general sense if their muscles have been chemically enhanced.

Young Justice Renegades: A Team Worth Dying For

@Sep Mostly just interested in the area we've teleported to. We're in the bank, but where, the lobby? If the power's out, are the lights and stuff off? How do we get downstairs if that's where the action is? What's the layout like down there?

Young Justice Renegades: A Team Worth Dying For

So, what, do we just attack now?

Young Justice Renegades: A Team Worth Dying For

Young Justice Renegades: A Team Worth Dying For

Y'know, I really tried not to visualize Dandy at all before this moment.

And yet, this is so much worse.

@Lord Wraith

There's absolutely nothing to worry about.

Young Justice Renegades: A Team Worth Dying For

<Snipped quote by Dead Cruiser>

"Who's a good little fleshmonster. Yes you are, you are a good little fleshmonster."

@Hillan

How Hayden and Julian see Dandy

How everyone else sees Dandy

Young Justice Renegades: A Team Worth Dying For

A quick Dandypost to keep things a-movin'.

This is generally what Dandy had to say to you all:

Young Justice Renegades: A Team Worth Dying For

Dandelion milled about the room, sniffing at their teammates as Conor continued his inscrutable machinations. By this point Dandy was already quite familiar with their teammates, and had committed their distinct scents to memory, but they were still trying to settle into the dog's skin, and allowed themselves to be literally led around by their nose for a while. Out of any of them Varo had the most unique smell, given his alien biochemistry, but Dandy still nudged the dog's instincts to swerve themselves away from him. One thing humans commonly misunderstood was that not only were humans alien to anyone who wasn't born on Earth, but so were other aliens. Dandy had at least been living among humans in some capacity for a few years now, but they had almost no experience with Varo's people, making him an unknown variable. Even so, Dandelion still sometimes looked to the other alien for cues on how to interact with humans, as he had spent longer living in human society than Dandy, and seemed to have a great deal of experience traveling and meeting other alien races under his belt. Seeing Varo accept Conor's small runestone and take his place on the teleporter went a long way to soothing Dandy's concerns about whatever enigmatic machine they were about to risk their lives going through.

After gently guiding Eilidh to her place, Conor came over to offer Dandelion a runestone so that they could be safely teleported as well. Rather than allow Conor to attach the stone to them with some sort of adhesive, as he was suggesting, Dandy craned their canine head up to meet Conor's hand, nudging his fingers open with their muzzle. Then once they had access, Dandy gently took the stone in their mouth, and after a moment's contemplation, swallowed it. They licked Conor's fingers, intending to reassure him that he would still get the stone back.

Julian began to ramble on about the capabilities of the teleporter, but almost all of it was nonsense to Dandelion, who padded over to their indicated spot on the transporter as he spoke. Obviously built to accommodate a bipedal skin, Dandy sat back on their haunches and curled their tail around themselves to make sure they fit. Julian then listed who would be going where, and the assurance that Dandy would be staying at Julian's side was another considerable relief to them. Being able to support and take direction from Julian made this entire prospect seem considerably less daunting. Momentarily forgetting they were a dog, Dandy tried to pitch in some positive affirmations to share with their teammates, but only succeeded in making some indecipherable mouth-sounds. Nothing new there, Dandy thought to themselves dryly.