Heine Rammsteiner

;Heine referring to an earlier conversation on being told how to live to Naoto
 

 

Despite most of his life being planned by others, Heine is very much an individual that believes in carving out your own path and not following one set by others. It does seem hypocritical at times due to his constant evocating and reminiscing of the horrendous things that brought him into existence and what occurred in the in hidden underground complexes during his youth, but his attitude remains that of a stray and not a follower. This immediately flags him as stubborn and for the most part that is true, he doesn’t take well to offered advice or assistance and refuses to take it even when it would be beneficial or is needed. He’s self efficient or tends to believe that he is, from living day to day or when placed in hostile circumstances where fighting is necessary.
 

 

The sense of self reliance stems from his traumatic past and finding himself too weak at the time. Heine was not born, but created to be a weapon by researchers in the deeper levels; most predominately Professor Einsturzen of which he was partly cloned from. In an attempt to escape with his friends and family including Giovanni and Lily, Heine relied on the help of the Original Spine after it was synchronized with him. The spine however considered help ending Lily's life thus 'freeing' her. The event traumatized him and causes him to usually deny help or assistance relating it to his failed attempt at escaping.
 

 

Professor Einsturzen’s madness and the loss of his sister have also given him a form of Gynophobia, the fear of women. More exclusively to Heine the fear of touch as it relates to how Lily died in his arms. He’s often either dismissive or rude to those of the opposite gender, but it has little to do with abhorrence as much as a mechanism to keep those of the female gender far away from him and from being touched. The one time he is seen being touched by a woman without warning, he goes into shock having head pains and flashbacks to Lily.

 

“Hello? Earth to Heine? Oi, Heine!”

“Shut it, I heard you.”

;Heine to Badou after he tried to get Heine's attention
 

 

Socially Heine is just on the edge of being a hermit if not for Badou, Bishop, Naoto, and Nill. His semi-hermit lifestyle is influenced by Lily’s death as well. The closer people are to him, the more worried he is about harming them in a fit of rage induced by the Original Spine. Lately however he has become more open about his past and himself, but it has been limited to a small circle of allies and shaky friendships.

 

He has very few reasons to reach out to people and engage in conversation unless information of something is needed, aside from his few friends and acquaintances. This does not mean he is resigned. Verbally Heine tends to be unclothed and blunt, sometimes for the worse. With people he knows or is accustomed to there is at times a bit of bite and sarcasm to his words. To people he does not know there is little to be said or gathered unless the individual crosses lines and pries too much at him.
 

 

His thought process is typically linear and about getting from point A to point B in the most timely and efficient manner. Increasingly more though events have slowed him down from his goals of finding a way back to the deep underground complexes. These bumps in the road have made his priorities gradually shift, his grasp on the past being shaken up to fight for what he has now from the deep underground. While he is by no means completely dismissive of his past, he has due to recent events and reveals began a switch in what actually matters to him and is currently still in that transition. Depending on future events this could either lead to him letting go of his past and ending back up at square one.
 

 

Heine’s only defensive from people getting at him is his offense. By being off-putting people don’t attempt to interact with him, but those who press past the brashness are greeted with weak walls. With persistence it isn’t hard to befriend him, at least one-side friendship and an acknowledgment of your existence from him. His trust is hard to earn by words as he is a man of action, in other words he is a firm believer that talk is cheap. The term dark comes to mind in how Heine thinks and comprehends things. This boils down to a pessimistic state of viewing the world and humor fully of sarcasm and cynical commentary. His insight and notions are much in tune with the crap-sack world he lives in.

 

"I am the same as them. Nothing but a beast that kills and consumes."

"But you tried to protect us. You made your stand out there to protect us all."

;Naoto to Heine after Giovanni's assault
 

 

Despite his less than savory attributes, Heine is a fierce protector. He however denies this completely as seen with his conversation with Naoto following the deep underground assault lead by Giovanni, but the evidence is hard to refute. While the circle of people he ‘protects’ is fairly small, he does a good job at doing so. With the assistance of Granny Liza’s gang and Naoto, he fended off the oncoming attackers of the deep underground. Even harder to refute is the cases he went out of his way to help Badou and Naoto during battle by dropping his own fight to come to assistance.
 

 

This protective quality is deeply sewn into his being as flashbacks show. Heine was willing to lay down everything in order to help Lily and the other deep underground subjects. This in turn becomes a problem in that he does not give attention to himself both physically and mentally as with when he tried to save those in the deep underground. The affects of being synchronized with the Original Spine were not considered, even that of pain and death. While the means and ends of the Original Spine did not fulfill Heine's intentions, it does show how far he is willing to go to protect be it through being injured or worse.
 

 

In oppisite of the appearance of someone who is hotheaded and short fused, Heine is actually very calm. This tranquility even follows him into battle where not a care is given the bullets falling about. Insults and taunts rile him none aside from those given by his brother Giovanni or when pestered for answers. Being cool headed comes as useful in making decisions even if they are made with a pessimistic and cynical twist.
 

 

He holds sympathy for people like him or related to him, though offered comfort is not within his realm of talents. The soft spot is reserved for hybrid young ones like Nill or the children rescued in his work for Granny Liza. The only humans that he holds a remote sense of caring for are Badou and Naoto, though it took five years for the former and discovery of talents and skills and past for the latter. In a weird way, Heine still cares for his family members. During the times he is fighting them there are glimpses of remorse, most notably with Giovanni being shot down and the twins in their first encounter. Although the twins were not part of his group, it connects to Heine's past desire to have saved everyone and failing. To him, if he had succeeded then none of the events now would be happening.

 

"So...which one of us is the master?"

;The Original Spine/Black Dog speaking to a unconscious Heine
 

 

The Original Spine (or Black Dog, Fuhrer Unit, 'Master') is the entity that is inside Heine's Kerberos Spine. It thrives on blood lust and is purely hedonistic for its wants having no true cares for Heine rather than the survival of his body. It is constantly there in Heine's mind and becomes louder when violence is about. Through dialog between the two, it is evident that the Original Spine knows what is happening outside and very much so has an opinion on it.
 

 

Heine manages to keep the Original Spine in check most of the time. So far control has slipped five times in canon; once and completely in the flashback where it used Heine's hands to kill Lily, again when Giovanni first appeared in the flesh and rendered Heine unconscious and later during their fight during the deep underground's attack. The fourth occurred after the timed explosions and was seemingly stopped by a tap by Naoto. The last and where he is being taken from is in the fight with Magato where it appears that Heine is losing, the slip only a panel at this time.

Inactive:

Minor Regeneration: Wounds limited to small arms fire and cuts can heal within a few minutes to a few hours depending on the severity. The greater the wounds inflicted or the amount slows his rate of healing. At this point the Original Spine is weak and more or less a nagging voice.

Physical Enhancements: Due to the spine implants Heine has a more strength, stamina, speed, agility than most humans. Some attacks at close range can be dodged and he can stand toe to toe with seemingly larger and ‘stronger’ individuals.

Activated:

Accelerated Regeneration: Most physical damage barely makes a dent in him at this point. Wounds heal within seconds and bellows of smoke appear when he is healing. He is by no means invincible, but slowing him down takes much harder hitting weapons such as higher caliber weapons or massive amounts of repeated damage. At this point the Original Leader Spine is awake and aware of the outside world; occasional slips allow it to take control for a few seconds.

Greater Physical Abilities: Strength, stamina, speed, and agility are increased greatly. Taking on several targets at once appear not to faze him at this point, even the masked soldiers.

Other:

Hand-to-hand Combat: With his speed and strength, Heine has no problem with taking down individuals as close range. He has no formal training in it, but his spine implants and creativity make up for it
 

Weapons: After years of honing his handgun skills, Heine is a fairly good shot. More often than not however he closes in gaps between him and his target thus does not need to truly aim.

Nourishment/Sleep: He does not need large amounts of nourishment or sleep to keep running. He will eat and attempt to sleep in the company of others to portray himself as more human, but it is not required of him to have all that much.

 

Weaknesses:

Gynophobia: As mentioned earlier, Heine is extremely afraid of being touched by women. Even something light as a brush causes spasms and headaches as seen in the prequel. It is certainly hard not to notice how he avoids women, even going out of his way to scoot into someone to avoid a woman. There are a two within canon that he seems comfortable to okay with touching, though both have taken a consider amount of character building and are related to him either genetically or mentally.

Socially inapt: Having been cut off from the world for most his life and then being traumatically effected by the death of his sister, Heine is socially inapt. Jokes, gestures, and the like are not understood that well. He does have his own brand of sarcasm, but it remains unrelated to others. Talking to others is nigh impossible without reason, he simply is not one for making conversation without reason. This inapt does not mean Heine is mean spirited, though his is often sharp around the edges, only the he lacks understanding.

The Original Leader Spine/Black Dog: The factor and apparently required individual needed to control all the Kerberos’ subjects. It is crude, violent, and hedonistic. Only Heine, more to the Leader Heine’s body, and getting its way matters. The more blood and carnage, the better for the Leader Spine. There is an obvious switch when the leader spine breaks through; most notably facial expressions and manner of speech. Heine tries to keep it under, but occasionally it slips through while he is fighting or simply to taunt him when the situation turns for the worst. When it does speak to Heine, it refers top him as master in a sarcastic manner and belittles him.

Albinism: Heine burns easily from his lack of pigmentation. He can heal right through it however, but being in sunlight for considerable amount of time bothers him. Bright lights also hinder his vision, though it settles quickly as normal eyes do after awhile.

Mentally Unstable: Being part of the Kerberos’ project and having the Original Leader Spine imbedded into him, Heine without a doubt is mentally unstable. By words alone it is hard to pick out as he is usually quiet and observant. In battle the signs are apparent, from calmness while bullets and whizzing by to laughing blissfully while taking aim. More often than not, it is the Leader Spine coming through that showcases his mental instability.