Balto the Brave

Real Name: Balto
Hero Name: Balto the Brave
Title: A Good Boy
Alignment: Lawful Good
Age: ???
Gender: Male
Race: Dog
Fur: Black, white, and light brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 24 inches
Weight: 85lbs
Blood type: DEA 1.1



On the day-to-day, Balto looks to be a Northern Inuit Dog purebred. This breed of dog has a very wolf-like appearance in terms of its features, though of a medium build.  Balto himself is around the standard height and weight for this breed, and has a soft coat of fur, vastly black, though having touches of white and a lighter brown color throughout. In terms of attire, the only thing that Balto wears, understandably, is a dark blue collar with his name, address, and the phone number to contact Myles.

Balto’s Shift allows his appearance to vastly change as his abilities activate. During the first phase of his Shift, Balto grows to be triple his height and weight, much of his fur turning to be a light gray color. During the second phase of his Shift his eyes turn to a blue-greyish color and a strange aura, a ghostly white aura appears around him. During the third and final phase of his Shift, Balto it is hard to see the exact changes, his fangs slightly increase in size, his claws become a bit sharper, there is a fiery wave of motion about the aura around him, and there is something more feral in his eyes.

Usually, when Balto begins to shift, he loses the collar, and instead Myles puts his signature mask on him, a black bandana that keeps his eyes and ears free. It’s a look that makes him look more like a hero overall.

Speaking of Myles, Myles is a young man, about twenty-one in terms of age. He has short, blonde hair, and dark brown eyes. He’s roughly 6’1 in terms of height and actually carries a fair bit of muscle, despite his lack of interest in sports. Most that would look at him would assume he was just your average college student, not too bad on the eyes, but not enough to really stick out. When he is working with Balto, however, he does don a similar sort of attire to match his canine companion. He wears a black cloth mask over his face, some lightweight body armor on his chest, lower arms, and legs. On the chest of his armor, there is an emblem of a dog, a distinguishing mark that shows he is a hero.


Balto is very much what you’d expect from a dog. He’s very loyal and friendly, a good companion to really anyone. He’s particularly loyal to Myles and especially protective of his master. He has shown high intelligence for a dog and has been trained to be a therapy and service dog, and thus has skills in helping with a few tasks around the house and in comforting those in distress. Like any dog, he, of course, loves, to play and laze around on his days off.

When out in the field, Balto tries his best to keep these qualities. To be loyal, friendly, and all-around someone people can rely on. A good boy. Against more difficult and dangerous adversaries, though, he has shown tendencies to be more aggressive and almost feral in some cases, giving into bestial tendencies.

Myles, on the other hand, is a…nice enough person to get along with. He’s not the most knowledgeable about social situations and can come off rather awkward. He just isn’t the best with people. He does his best to be kind, however. He’s training to be a vet and is rather knowledgeable in the area, he’s certainly a smart person overall. He knows his job well and is determined to do his best in the field. He does have a sense of responsibility as well, which is what led him down the hero path. At first, he just wanted to help Balto, but as he continued on with it, he found he also wanted to help people.




Begin Log, D 03-22-81

“My assigned name is Doctor Leon, I am the research head on project K-2-9, and general overseer of the staff on the project. For those of you who do not know what that means, I basically do most of the research behind Compound 27, something  I am sure you all know a great deal about, and I also tell people what to do, something else I am sure you all can relate to. Addendum, archivist, please remove the latter remark, I do wish to see my pay cut.”

“Anyways, today is the first day we begin testing on the new K-2-9 serum, we’ll begin with animal testing before we move onto the human trial, and for that, I have requested several of the newly developed breeds of dog that our other sector has been putting work into.”

The voice sighs.

“Hopefully it’ll go better than our last testing, although I suppose the results of the previous human trials are why I was moved to replace the previous head of research, the…previous Doctor Leon. Anyways, introductions aside, as a quick outline we have gathered twelve canine units to begin testing on. If any show success we shall move to a larger testing group, and then…well, hopefully, we’ll be able to begin and perfect the human trials. We do not need a repeat of last time. End log.”

Log Ends

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Begin Log, D 07-29-81

“Log begin, hello. Doctor Leon here, this is entry…I believe seven? Eight? Into project K-2-9. Ever since we administered the compound to our subjects we’ve only run into two road bumps. Subjects D-4 and D-7 have both been terminated. D-4 accidentally consumed a toxic substance from one of the desks and had a negative reaction, and D-7 managed to escape her cell and ended up biting a staff member, and then one of the security guards, who then put her down. Both the guard and the one who left the cell have been terminated from the program.”

Papers shuffle around as the doctor sighs again.

“There has been no real progress made on any of the other specimens, or at least no signs of physical changes in terms of their appearance or in their blood samples. Subject D-11 however has been displaying unique…attributes. Subject D-11 has always been a bit aggressive and recently bit one of my staff. Afterward, my staff members, we’ll call…Garry...has been saying even after he left the room he could hear D-11 growling at him. We at first wanted to dismiss this as paranoia, but then one recalled a similar circumstance that occurred during D-7’s escape. Perhaps the change has the ability to affect one on a mental level instead? It’ll require more testing, of course.

Otherwise, nothing new to report, as usual. The Board has been breathing down my neck for results, but what they fail to realize is that this is going to be a long road if we really want to pump out Metahumans. Log End.”

Log Ends

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Begin Log, D 12-24-81

“Nearly Christmas and I am still at the lab, working. Most of my staff has taken off, but since my family all has gone on vacation, I opted to stay and get this work done. Oh, this is Doctor Leon reporting in. This is log…goodness, twenty-two. I don’t know if that is right, but it’s the holiday so not going to stress about this one.”

“We still are waiting to see how the subjects take to the newly administered booster we gave them a week ago, although I have noted many of our subjects seem lethargic. We’ve run every test we can and they still appear to be healthy and showing no signs any sort of deterioration. As far as we can tell, well, as far as I can tell, being the only one here, they are just tired. And here I was hoping for a Christmas Miracle.”

“Anyways, I am going to run some basic testin-”

Barking and cage-rattling can be heard in the background, interrupting Doctor Leon.

“AH! Ah…oh, it seems as though something has disturbed the subjects. End log, for now.”

Log Ends

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Incident Report, D 01-12-82

“Doctor Leon here. This is a late incident report, but against my best wishes one of limbs were torn off and put me out of commission for a few weeks.”

“On the twenty-fourth of December my log was interrupted by a disturbance in the cells. As it turned out, the booster we gave our subjects seemed to have a…it’s hard for me to say a positive effect given the circumstances that occurred to me, but in terms of the project we’ve made quite a bit of headway. All specimens shifted, showing results and then some that we have been working towards. However, their enlarged forms and enhanced physical capabilities allowed them to escape from their cells and go on a small rampage. In the ensuing chaos, while I tried to alert security, one managed to tear my arm right from its socket.”

There is an exhausted-sounding sigh that follows.

“Security finally caught wind of it before I was further hurt and dealt with the issue. All but two subjects were put down, unfortunately. While this may be considered a setback, the two living subjects, D-11 and D-12 should still provide ample resources for our research. I requested more subjects to test on, but apparently, that has been moved to a different sector and we are to continue our work on these two, seeing how far we can push them I suppose.”

“Despite all that has happened, it seems like we still have a lot of work to do.”

“End Incident Report.”

Log Ends

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Begin Final Recovered Log, D 03-22-82

“Doctor Leon. Things have gone particularly bad.”

Gunfire can be heard in the distance.

“Subjects D-11 and D-12 have escaped the compound in an attack against our compound. To my knowledge, the Meta-Humans who have assaulted us are well-known heroes who have caught onto our work here. Fuck, damnit…”

A loud crashing sound and yell is heard far off.

“K-2-9 is a success, I know that much and if this ends up in the hands of my superior I wanted to say we can still do this. I have the notes, I have the knowledge this project doesn’t have to end. Find me where this all began and we will begin again if we have to. In the meantime, please find subjects D-11 and D-12 and put them down before they reveal everything we’ve been doing here. I’ll be burning all the research notes I don’t take with me so no one can know what we’ve done.”

“If by some miracle the people who attacked us find this log. Fuck. You. We were going to make a better world and you…you…I will be your end if it is the last thing I do.”

“End log.”

Log Ends


Myles was not usually a hesitant person. Sure, he wasn’t the first person to raise his hand in class, unless it was in Biology, or the first to try out a new club, or even the first to ask his crush out on a date, but he didn’t shy away from things. Not for long at least.

However, this had been the fourth time he had walked out to the mailbox and lingered in front of it, deciding whether or not he should open it. By this time, the neighbors who were mowing their lawn in the cool of the evening had begun to stare and wonder if the young high schooler was alright. None of them moved to check, but the worry was there. He just kept staring at the mailbox, a few times his hand raised to try and open it, but he always stopped himself.

After what seemed like hours of standing there (it was actually only fifteen minutes, although could still be considered a long time to stand in front of and stare at a mailbox), Myles finally reached out a hand and opened it. Inside, there was a single letter, neat, clean, and formal. After a quick inspection of it, it was the letter that Myles was inspecting and fearing. Part of him wanted to tear it open and get it over with, but the other, stronger side of him withheld on that.

He now just stood, staring down at it, holding his breath as he felt a lump form in his throat.

He couldn’t do it. Even if he was accepted, he couldn’t…he wasn’t…he didn’t know so much, he didn’t have the money, he didn’t…there were a million reasons why he shouldn’t, why he couldn’t. He felt his knees begin to shake and before he knew it, he was on the ground, on his knees, looking down at the closed letter. His breaths felt short and shallow, as if he wasn’t actually taking in any air. It felt like as soon as he breathed in that air was expelled as he breathed out.

The stress, the pressure, the worry…it was all too much, he couldn’t handle it…he couldn’t…

He nearly jolted at the sensation of something cold and wet at the back of his neck. It caused him to jump, which made the thing behind him flinch back as well. When he turned, he saw a wolf…no, a dog. This was…he knew the breed, he had read about it. An Inuit Wolf dog…but a starved and weak looking one. The dog, a male, was ragged and worn, looking to be a wild dog or maybe abandoned.

Without thinking, he slowly reached out a hand, showing his palm to the dog. The shaking, shambling body of the dog moved forward, curiously sniffing his hand before sneezing and getting gunk on him. Most people would’ve been grossed out by the snot on their hand, but Myles just laughed and attempted to place a hand atop the pup’s head, smiling gently at him.

He wasn’t sure why, but all the fears and anxieties melted away. The concerns about his acceptance to college disappeared and all that he cared about right now was helping this dog. The thoughts of the letter would all be gone until a week later when he remembered he had never opened it. When he did so, he did it idly, without care, because now…

Now, he had something that actually seemed worth worrying over, something worth caring about.


Balto the Dog: Balto, when he just appears to be normal, is very much similar to any other dog. He has slightly heightened endurance, allowing him to take a bit more damage compared to other dogs, getting hit or smacked around by a normal person is barely a threat to him. Further, he doesn’t seem to have a normal lifespan, not having shown the signs of aging for some time. He is currently around forty in terms of human years, yet still seems to be in his prime. It is unknown if he can live forever, but he at least has this extended lifespan.


Phase 1: The first phase of his shift can be down on command at any point. In this phase, Balto’s fur becomes incredibly hard and durable, able to take strikes from empowered Metas with a physical enhancement ability. While hits will still affect him, it’ll take more than just a few empowered strikes to bring down this pup.

Further, his own size and strength increase incredibly, he triples his normal size and has been shown to be able to pull and throw entire buses with ease, and this force can also be applied to tremendous bite attacks, able to pierce through concrete and durable metals.  This strength can also be applied to his speed, able to keep up with speeding trains, reaction time, able to dodge the blows of fast-moving metas (although has an incredibly difficult time with speedsters).


Phase 2: The second phase requires some time to be spent in the first phase, as well as receiving a codeword from Myles to trigger the shift. In this phase, Balto is surrounded by a strange aura that doesn’t seem to do much other than exerting a strange pressure that doesn’t really physically affect anyone within it. However, with the second phase activated, Balto’s bites become empowered.


While they are not increased in terms of physical capabilities, Balto’s bites apply a strange condition upon others (approval-based). People bit by Balto suffer from increased sound perception. Any noise they hear will be twice as loud, which can cause severe pain to them, and affect their balance and vision. Each bite following then doubles this effect, stacking up to twelve times.


Phase 3: In the third phase, the hardest phase to reach as it seems to only happen in times of incredible mental and physical strain, as well as a command word from Myles, Balto’s physical stats, are further enhanced. His fangs seem to grow in size, as do his claws. His enhanced size, durability, strength, and speed are all doubled. So far, he has only been able to reach this form a handful of times, and each time it usually only lasts a short duration, the highest record being six minutes.



Commands: Balto, without receiving commands from Myles, tends to fight without any real coordination or great skill. He still demonstrates some canine tactics but is generally easy to predict without his commands. Disabling communication between the pair does cripple Balto’s combat capabilities.

Like a Dog: Despite the experiments and having enhanced durability, Balto is still weak to the toxins a normal dog would be weak to. Chocolate, onions, so on and so forth, foods that would negatively affect dogs affect him as well. At the end of the day, he still just is a dog.


Feral: If Myles goes down and Balto sees this, Balto begins to go feral and on a rampage. Balto is considered a hero, yet in this feral state, he loses self-control and does not care about property damage or crossfire. He will fight until someone manages to calm him down, Myles speaks a command word, or until the threat is finished. He can calm down on his own, given enough time, though usually there is some severe damage to the area around him.


Aroo?: All of Balto’s strong points seem to be in combat. Beyond combat and rescue missions, however, he is not very helpful. He doesn’t have the intellect or thumbs to get past security systems or hack into any computers. He is a large dog and not the most stealthy, although he might be able to sneak past things if no one minds having a dog around. Unless things can be solved through brute force, most traps and puzzles and general confrontations that require some intellect will not go well for him.

Myles also doesn’t have the best intellect and cannot hack into things, although he is a bit stealthier, but not impressively so. He does have thumbs, however.


Lightning: Balto, regardless of his size, seems to have a fear of lightning. He will act with more hesitations in a Lightning storm (or similar circumstances), and he seems to struggle to get past Phase 1 of his Shift. It can happen, but it requires more time and effort.


Phase 1 to 3: Balto cannot skip phases to get stronger quicker. He can’t shift from his normal resting state to Phase 2 or 3 without having first gone to Phase 1. This can be dangerous if a threat requires more force than what Phase 1 can dish out.



Myles usually always has a book bag with Balto’s mask in it, as well as a mask for himself. He has made a few costumes for himself than he has placed in a few key locations so he can quickly change if a situation requires him to be in costume.


Myles, when in costume, carries around a high-density baseball bat that can take a bit more of a beating, although it is nothing special or made of any new-age material that put it above what a normal human could get their hands on. His costume also only adds protection against light ballistics, and again doesn’t offer any more protection than a normal human could get their hands on.


Both Myles and Balto wear an incredible subtle earpiece that allows Myles to give commands to Balto, even from vast distances and even when one of them is far below ground.


Myles does have a couple of drones that he has bought and equipped with cameras that he uses to keep an eye on Balto in the case of dangerous fights where he shouldn’t be present.



Myles is a college student and current owner and technical sidekick to Balto. He is a baseline human with some military training, but beyond that has no real advantages.



Myles is currently attending college to become a Vet.

Balto has always shown tendencies, as long as Myles has been aware, to do the deeds of a hero. Myles has only helped Balto improve in this, as well as teach Balto command words to shift when needed instead of randomly.

Myles isn’t the only one who can command Balto, but Balto needs to trust the person to actually listen to the commands.