Captain Flowers | Bastion app

[pleasedaspunch]

Captain Butch Flowers is a background character for most of the series, despite his importance to the plot, and in as much there is very little information given about his character, beyond what is absolutely necessary for other characters’ development. Anything written in italics in this profile is universe-complying fanon that is widely accepted in the RvB fandom. In addition, most of the information known about the character can be considered major spoilers for the series, and thus the copious use of spoiler tags.

Player name: Jester

Age: Twenty four

Contact: Either here or my tumblr!

Other characters: the Meta

Character name: Captain Butch Flowers, Freelancer Agent Florida

Series: Red vs Blue,

AU info: After being killed by Alpha and subsequently revived by a Sangheili, possessed by Omega, and then freed from Omega’s possession, Flowers survived being shot by a rogue Wyoming clone and was able to grab his old Freelancer equipment and begin sending a message to the Director, but was knocked out when part of a wall in Blue Base was destroyed. All other events stay true to canon.

Summary:

HISTORY

Like most Freelancer agents, most of Butch Flowers’, formerly Agent Florida’s, history prior to his involvement with the project has been irreversibly wiped. In addition, due to the extreme importance of his mission, and the need to keep his true allegiances off of the radar, his history with Project Freelancer has been summarily destroyed as well. Very few official records of his existence remain, and those that do are purposely left vague.

Many years in the past, Flowers was brought on to Project Freelancer as an elite operative, code named Agent Florida. While there were fifty agents in total, Flowers was one of a handful that not only survived the rigorous and dangerous conditions that were thrust upon them, but was also one of the few that was stationed aboard the Freelancer flagship, the Mother of Invention.

Project Freelancer was a fiercely competitive program, the Director pitting agent against agent in order to ensure that only the strongest and most intelligent survived. A leader board was established, and it was clear that camaraderie amongst agents was to be considered secondary, and that personal achievement, and higher rankings, would mean more favor from the Director. While the concept itself sounded almost childish, forcing grown men and women to compete for fleeting attention of a superior officer, it was surprisingly efficient in motivating the agents, and infighting and rivalries became common amongst the top agents.

Florida himself never graced the leader board. Not for lack of accomplishments, however.

While other agents were more suited to combat, to infiltration, to capture and recovery, and to merely destroying things with extreme vengeance, Agent Florida behaved as the eyes and ears of the Director, infiltrating not only the ranks of any force that opposed PFL, but the ranks of the Freelancers themselves. He was considered unassuming, if a bit too cheerful, amongst his comrades, but not suspicious enough to warrant further thought, which made him the perfect choice to spy on their goings-on.

To maintain his cover, and to throw off any suspicion amongst the ranks, Florida was paired with another Agent as well, as was common in PFL. His partner, the sharpshooter Agent Wyoming, was a suspicious man by nature, but couldn’t bring himself to care too much about anything that could have been going on with Florida. Both had secrets they were unwilling to share, but both respected the other enough not to push. All in all, the two became as close to friends as was possible for two Agents, with Florida acting as Wyoming’s spotter, and Wyoming helping to cover Florida during particularly dangerous infiltrations.

Alas, the relative peace within the ranks couldn’t last. With Agent Connecticut's defection and betrayal, security aboard the Mother of Invention was tightened, and testing on the remaining Freelancers was accelerated. The rivalries between teammates began to boil over, resulting in infighting and all-out grudges, and while Florida himself took care not to involve himself with too much, there was still the notion that it would only be a matter of time before anyone started looking closely at him.

Unfortunately, even in death, Connecticut had one final wrench to throw in the Director’s plans. During her time funneling information to the insurgency, she had come across files that exposed the Director for the monster he was, but knowing that she had little power to actually bring the man to justice, she ended up entrusting the files to Agent Texas, whom investigated them after Connecticut’s death. The files contained information about the Alpha AI, how he was being tortured and fragmented for PFLs use, and the truth behind the identity of the Beta AI.

Agent Texas spearheaded an attack on the Mother of Invention, hellbent on saving Alpha from the Director’s clutches. Backed by a handful of other Freelancers, her attempts tore apart the strained team, pitting friend against friend, sibling against sibling, and destroying any camaraderie that could have ever existed. Ultimately, the Alpha was not rescued, not for a lack of effort, and with PFL dissolving around him, the Director, spurred on by the Counselor’s suggestions, made a heavy choice. The Alpha was to be moved.

Ultimately, testing was slated to continue at a later date, but with Texas’ betrayal, there was fear that another rescue attempt would be made, and the Director couldn’t risk his life’s work being ruined. Moving the AI wouldn’t be enough, however, there was still a chance that one of the rouge Freelancers could manage to stumble upon its location, and so a protector was appointed, someone who would be able to manage the Alpha’s unstable personality, and at the same time defend it, should any harm potentially come. It was a mission for only the most trusted, loyal Agent.

It was upon that day that Agent Florida became Captain Butch Flowers.

The matter of covering up Florida’s sudden disappearance was handled discreetly, and soon Flowers was shipped out to a small box canyon in the middle of nowhere. Appointed the Captain of a bunch of blue team simulation soldiers, Flowers soon adjusted to the slow, monotonous life in Blood Gulch. It was easy enough to blend in with the sim soldiers that had been assigned to the outpost, and Alpha had no idea of his true nature, having shed his memories back on the Mother of Invention, which made the mission almost too easy for an Agent used to having to tread carefully.

As it turned out, the entire stint in Blood Gulch seemed to be more of a vacation than anything else, and Flowers found himself playing more a babysitter role than that of a guardian. It seemed that none of the other Freelancers had managed to ping Alpha’s location, and the lull in action allowed him time to focus on actually getting to know, and befriend, the soldiers under his care. Albeit, there was only one other blue, one Lavernius Tucker, stationed with himself and Alpha (currently under the alias of ‘Church’, and completely unaware of his status as a computer program), but that didn’t stop Flowers from doting upon the two as if they were his own kin. His fatherly affections, however, played two roles: first, a way to put the two men at ease, something that only slightly worked, and second, it allowed him to carefully monitor any issues that Alpha might encounter while he interacted with human beings.

Thankfully, there seemed to be no major problems with the AI, beyond what had been expected when it was fragmented in the first place, and Flowers’ job continued to be a walk in the park. The Red team sim soldiers were easy enough to deal with, especially for a former Freelancer, and with calls to the Director severely limited, he began to sink further into his role as Captain.

Perhaps he could have stayed in the peace and quiet of Blood Gulch for the rest of his life, but unfortunately, the universe saw fit to deliver him another fate. While resting for the evening, standing straight up with his eyes open (as custom), Alpha burst in, babbling something about sickness and the future and a myriad of other things that made little sense. It had to be recursion, which was incredibly concerning, and while the AI continued to babble, Flowers weighed the options of how to address the situation. A call would need to be made to the Director, that was for certain, but in the immediate future, Alpha needed to be calmed down and reassured.

The AI had mentioned something about medicine, and so Flowers, smooth as always, took control of the situation, reassuring Alpha’s fears, and allowing the other to inject him with ‘medicine to save his life’. It was that momentary slip-up that threw a wrench into everything. The injection induced a massive respiratory and cardiac failure in Flowers, courtesy of aspirin mixed into the drug cocktail, and while he struggled to breathe, it became obvious that there was no way to survive such a massive allergic reaction. With his last breath, Flowers attempted to cue Alpha in to his mission, if only so that the AI could protect himself, but he was ultimately unsuccessful.

There, on the dirty floor of the Blue base, Captain Butch Flowers died.

His subordinates stripped his body, redressing him in a standard issue blue MJOLNIR suit, and buried him in a shallow grave, where he fell through into the waterways beneath the canyon, and there he laid, untouched for over a year. Truly, that should have been the end of things; he had failed his mission, failed the Director, and a painful death and anonymous burial in the middle of nowhere was his reward.

Imagine the confusion and shock when he rose back to consciousness, chest burning and limbs leaden.

Reanimation was excruciating, moreso than anything that he had ever experienced as a Freelancer, but most disconcerting was the sudden awareness that he couldn’t remember, couldn’t remember anything that had happened previously, after he had tried to warn Alpha. As he struggled to recall anything that could have cued him in to what was happening, there was a sudden pain in the back of his mind, like something was attempting to tear its way out of his head, before an overbearing, grating voice began to echo within his skull.

The next few hours were a daze, and Flowers had little control over himself, a mere observer as his body was controlled by an outside force, the AI fragment known as Omega. While the experience should have been frightening, upsetting, Flowers was more concerned as to the missing time in his memory, and the sheer fact that apparently he had been killed, but had apparently recovered.

His questions were soon answered, however, by the voice in the back of his head. Omega waxed at length about his plans for world domination, how he was going to enslave the Sengheili race, and how the key to everything was an alien-human hybrid that lived in the valley above, but really all that Flowers was concerned about was if his team, and thus his mission, was still safe.

Unfortunately, Omega was a force to be reckoned with, and while Flowers’ will was strong, the AI fragment was stronger, and there was no chance for him to slip away to check. Instead, he found himself paired with Omega and the Sangheili that had revived him, stalking through the waterways and lying, manipulating, and deceiving the sim soldiers above, all in order to capture the tiny hybrid that Omega was so intent on abducting.

After drugging, interrogating, and leaving one of the Red team members for dead, the trio finally obtained enough information, which allowed them to coax the alien child into Omega’s clutches. His goal complete, the AI fragment had no further use for Flowers’ body, but it was only when Freelancer Agent Texas opened an open com channel and goaded Omega that Flowers was finally freed, the AI taking the opportunity to infect a better host.

The information that Agent Texas, the Freelancer that had attempted to liberate the Alpha so many years ago, was in close proximity to her target sent Flowers into full defensive mode. He slipped away from the Sangheili, emerging from the waterways and out into the chaos that had engulfed Blood Gulch. Unbeknownst to him, there had been altercations between his team and his former partner, Agent Wyoming, and through a gross misuse of temporal technology, the canyon was littered with clones of the sniper. Amidst the hail of gunfire and dust, he managed to reach private Tucker, but unfortunately, as he attempted to warn the other of just how dire the situation was, he was shot by a high caliber round, taking the brunt of the bullet within his shoulder. The shock floored him, and the other soldier mistook his collapse as a sign he was dead again, running off before Flowers could get a word in otherwise.

Mentally cursing his luck, he managed to drag himself to the safety of Blue base, raiding his hidden cache of old equipment for supplies. An injection of biofoam was enough to stop the bleeding and pain temporarily, and his old armor still fit just right, but Flowers knew that the severity of the situation, while still lost on literally everyone else in the canyon, would require PFL to step in.

Staggering through the base, he managed to put in a call to the Director, but his string of poor luck continued, and before he was able to contact anything, he was caught in a violent explosion of concrete, as the Blue tank, under control of the AI fragment Gamma, blew open the base, and while Flowers was used to taking hits, the force of the artillery round and debris was more than sufficient to render him unconscious.


PERSONALITY

There is a fine line between cheerful and creepy. Captain Butch Flowers walks that line every day.

To call him an optimist would be an extreme understatement: in Flowers’ world, there is nothing that can go horribly wrong, and even the most devastating events are nothing more than minor setbacks that can be worked through with a little hard work and a positive attitude. Misfortune? New opportunities! Death? Time to remember what one should be thankful for in life. His own death? Just the start of a new and exciting chapter in life!

Truly, there’s something a bit off about such sentiments.

Flowers projects an aura of compassion that seems very out of character for a military officer, but he dismisses any concerns about his possibly lax standards as merely being concerned about his men. He treats his subordinates as his own kin, often times going as far as to suggest they call him ‘daddy’, which is usually received rather poorly, but the sentiment is the same. He wants those that he is tasked to watch to know that he cares, and that he only acts with their best interests in mind. He has also shown a penchant for terrible jokes, especially knock-knock jokes, which seems to be a habit picked up from his old partner in PFL.

Though his calming personality may easily put others at ease, it is important to remember that Flowers is still a highly trained special operative, and one that has the trust and full support of a quasi-legal military organization. Just because he is, was, tasked with guarding an incredibly important piece of military equipment in a boring, nigh-deserted box canyon, does not mean that he has forgotten his roots.  

At the end of the day, however, there is a distinct divide between Captain Butch Flowers and Freelancer Agent Florida, and while there are very few people that even know of this, Flowers has no issue with ‘gently’ reminding anyone that questions a bit too much. He doesn’t enjoy having to slip back into old mannerisms, it tends to be an inconvenience at times, but he knows that anyone that pries will probably become more of a nuisance in the future, and that it’s best to deal with situations before they evolve into further problems.

As befitting of someone trained for espionage, he is incredibly observant, and it would behoove anyone to think that he is not watching them, even when he seems most relaxed. Old habits die hard, and he is constantly making mental notes of how those around him act, any small tells they may have, and any mannerisms that could potentially mark them as a threat. Though he may appear to be content and collected, he is never truly off duty.

Perhaps that is what is most disconcerting about Flowers. While other Freelancers were made for war, Flowers was made for something else entirely: manipulation. Despite his oftentimes charming and disarming personality, he is an agent at heart, and has no qualms over any part of his job, including the more amoral duties required of him. He feels zero remorse over lives that he has ended, and his fierce loyalty to PFL makes him a distinct anomaly in the program. While every other Freelancer had some sort of reservations about the Director and his motivation, Flowers has remained dedicated to the cause, keeping the same chipper, upbeat attitude about life and his job, no matter what has been asked of him. 

That isn't to say that he's an unhinged soldier, however.  Flowers has no qualms about his duties, but he has no reason to perform outside of what PFL requires of him.  He is not the sort to attack and harm without reason, and unless the Director orders him to do anything, he is perfectly harmless to those around him.  Unless they threaten the Alpha, that is.


All in all, Flowers is the type of guy who will be cheerfully recommending a lovely vegan cake recipe in one breath and equally cheerfully explaining the best spot to slip a blade into someone’s kidneys in the next. He’ll be anyone’s friend, but if time comes to eliminate them, he’ll do so with a smile on his lips.

Powers:

Captain Flowers has no powers so to speak of, unless you count being a great team dad.

Abilities:

Biocom: The biocom function of Freelancer armor allows Flowers to check the vitals of those around him, showing basic statistics (temperature, heart rate, brain function, etc) and if the target has suffered any injuries. **Biocom has never been confirmed as either standard issue for Freelancers, or as an armor enhancement, but does not seem to need an AI fragment to function, leading many to believe it is the former. Unlike armor enhancements, biocom is a power that is passive, and active at all times. Given that Flowers is far less likely to wear his helmet around the Bastion, it is not terribly useful at most points in time.

Armor: Unlike most other Freelancers, Flowers’ armor is extremely light, something that helps with his unique specializations. While it does help protect him in battle, it is weaker by far than the EVA or MJOLNIR sets of the other Freelancers, and is not a suitable choice for one running into live firefights. Because it is so lightweight, however, it allows Flowers a degree of maneuverability far higher than any of his comrades.

Endurance: Just because he isn’t supposed to be in the direct line of fire doesn’t mean that Flowers is frail; in canon he’s seen to not only take an axe to the shoulder, but also fall from at least two stories onto concrete, and yet is still able to pick himself up and fight after a short while. While he may not be as resilient as other, more tank-like, Freelancers, he has incredible nerves and extreme determination, allowing him to get back up, even when injured. Mind over matter goes a long way.

Weapons Training: Like any good special ops, Flowers is trained in a variety of firearms, but seems to favor high caliber pistols and his trusty assault rifle if he’s forced into firefights. He isn’t one for the thick of things, however, and prefers to choose his shots wisely, using terrain and stealth to his advantage, as opposed to overwhelming with brute strength. Generally however, Flowers prefers to stay out of the thick of things, eliminating his targets quietly and without too much fuss, as fitting for an agent specializing in espionage. His weapon of choice for this manner of fighting is a marine standard issue KA-BAR combat knife.

Specializations: As Agent Florida, Flowers was the main tactical espionage and assassination unit of PFL, and in as much is very used to working and manipulating from very deep within the shadows. It is uncertain if his cheerfulness is actually legitimate, or merely a tactic used to deflect suspicion from himself, but either way, it tends to produce desired results. It is best to beware his silver tongue and friendly demeanor, no matter the situation.

Death...?: Flowers was legally dead for over a year, his body encased within standard issue blue MJOLNIR armor and laying in the bottom of a cave beneath Blood Gulch. Even stranger, he was subsequently revived by a Sangheili Elite, in order for his body to be used as a vessel for the Omega AI fragment. Thankfully, the armor’s preservation functions prevented any major decay or damage to his physical body, but the process of reanimation screwed up a few internal functions, if only because alien to human science is certainly not an exact art. His pulse tends to cap out at about 40 BPM when resting, but he shows no signs of adverse reactions due to said bradycardia. In addition, his core temperature tends to remain at a consistent 85.9 degrees Fahrenheit. Flowers himself seems unconcerned with either fact, and that the only real side effect is that he tends to bleed and clot slower when injured.

Entry: Though optimism and determination can work wonders, Flowers will be arriving sporting a bullet wound in his shoulder and a nasty bump to the head, and will definitely need assistance to the Bastion.

Other:

-Possessions: Two field canisters of biofoam, ODST armor, one standard issue combat knife, and one assault rifle with two bandoleers of ammunition.

-Flowers has severe allergies to both aspirin and exotic nuts; exposure to either is sure to prove fatal.

-As a direct result of Flowers being assigned to go into hiding to care for the Alpha AI, the Counselor and Director took measures to craft a cover-up to explain his disappearance. It is heavily implied in canon that part of this cover-up involved destroying the entire state of Florida back on Earth. Link