Hound

Sgt. Hound was a hardy American robo-soldier who appears as a supporting character in Clown Force: Pirates.

He served in the American J.A.C.K.D.A.W military group, an elite special operations ground force unit of the United States Space Force. He was originally from Earth but he briefly moved to the city of Westbrook in the Republic of Eastern Island on Planet Cadaland, when J.A.C.K.D.A.W were sent out to attack the Pirate Movement in the Jane Galaxy and Dimension Z in the early 70's.

He was close friends with Flash Clown, Heroton and Hawk.

Appearance
Hound was a stocky ZV-40 robot. He had a purple and aluminum silver paintjob with lightning yellow eyes. He had a square-tipped nose.

During the Westbrook saga, he was lacking any sort of combat armour as he was off-duty, but after his recommission into J.A.C.K.D.A.W, he dawned a unique form of J.A.C.K.D.A.W armour, suitable for robo-soldiers. Heroton also wears this armour. This armour consists of a tactical grey chestplate, with J.A.C.K.D.A.W insignias and military markings, along with armored grey elbow and knee pads. He also wore several militarized accessories during this period, such as a grenade belt he kept over his shoulder and a holster backpack, where he kept his M4.

Before the Wars
Not much is known about Hound's life before he was sent to fight in the Pirate Wars.

He was probably built for American military purposes, as law on Earth prohibits intelligent, humanoid robots (like ZV-40s') outside of military use. Assumingly, he probably does not have any family and was given artificial intelligence, with military skills.

At some point in his military career, he was commissioned to the J.A.C.K.D.A.W squad of the United States Marine Corps, where he rose to the rank of Sergeant. He, along with Sgt. Heroton, were one of few robot foot soldiers within the J.A.C.K.D.A.W. He became good friends with his fellow soldiers Heroton and a human soldier, Pvt. Christian Hawk, who was almost always referred to by his surname.

He is one of three known robo-soldiers in the U.S Army, the other two being Layton and Heroton.

Operation Fallen Sword
There is also the possibility that, like in the case of his fellow J.A.C.K.D.A.W comrade Heroton, he was indeed a decorated human soldier who was killed in action and whose brain was preserved, compressed and placed inside the hardware of a deactivated ZV-40 robot frame, reanimating him so that he could continue his service in the military. This would mean he has all the memories and personality of his former, human self. Heroton tells his team that this was a classified operation carried out by the American government 20 years prior, known as Operation Fallen Sword.

As Hound was killed on Mars, he was never given the opportunity to be recruited into the Clown Force afterwards (like Heroton) and thus he could never confirm this. Heroton doesn't mention that Hound was a subject of Operation Fallen Sword.

The J.A.C.K.D.A.W / Z-MARINE Conflict
Once J.A.C.K.D.A.W forces were sent into the Jane Galaxy to fight the Pirate Movement (Due to pirates entering the Milky Way galaxy and hijacking space stations from Earth, mainly American ones), the Coalition Government of Planet Cadaland warned them to turn back to the Milky Way and not interfere with the Pirate Movement, as the Z-MARINES were already at war with them and claimed help was not needed.

J.A.C.K.D.A.W commanders ignored the threats and their fleet pushed into the galaxy, with the affirmation of NATO. Planet Cadaland immediately declared war on them and Z-MARINE forces ambushed them from space, near the atmosphere of the planet. This resulted in a bloody war, coinciding with the Pirate Wars. Hound was one of many J.A.C.K.D.A.W soldiers fighting the Z-MARINES.

After a month of fighting in the war, Hound and his platoon were temporarily honorably discharged due to extensive injuries done to their battalion.

Alpine Avenue & Flash Clown
After Hound, Heroton, Hawk and the rest of his platoon were honorably discharged, many of them were moved to the city of Westbrook by their superiors, namely to a suburban street called Alpine Avenue, albeit undercover with secret identities. It is here that Hound and his friends met Flash Clown, a young family man who was a former member of the legendary Clown Force, living in Alpine Avenue. Flash had pieced together and uncovered the fact that the 3 men were actually American soldiers, confronting them. They confirmed his suspicions but he assured them he had no quarrel with them or America, as he had no allegiance to the Z-MARINE army. They became good friends and set up a neighborhood watch aswell as the Alpine Avenue Veteran's Club.

After a dox was posted by pro-Z-MARINE data leakers online containing the names and photos of the soldiers that J.A.C.K.D.A.W had sent into Westbrook, Hound and his friends were compromised and constantly harassed and attacked by both Z-MARINE supporters and even supporters of the Pirate Movement. Flash Clown had followed one of the pirate supporters one night and saw that there was a large number of them at a criminal mansion at the end of the street (Owned by a pro-Pirate drug lord, King Aston) and that they were armed heavily.

The Raid of Aston's Mansion
The abuse continued for weeks until one day Flash Clown informed Hound and his friends that they were going to storm into the mansion, with the help of two skilled Clown Force agents, Tiger Clown and Finn, who were on a mission to recover pirate intel from the mansion. Hating the pirates, Hound agreed to join in.

That night, the group met up at Flash Clown's house and equipped themselves with heavy weaponry and armour. They drove down the street in Flash Clown's Jeep J8. Tiger Clown, who was driving the jeep, rammed it through the gates of the mansion where it spun out of control and broke through the building itself. Surrounded by hostile militia, the disorientated squad exited the jeep and returned fire. Hound, Hawk, Tiger Clown and Flash Clown battled the militia downstairs while Finn and Heroton stormed upstairs and assassinated King Aston, grabbing the laptop containing pirate intel. They then provided support from the upstairs balcony, but the group was still heavily outnumbered. Hound ordered Hawk to call in J.A.C.K.D.A.W reinforcements and within minutes, a VTOL arrived, hovering in front of the mansion and obliterating the remaining gang members with it's machine gun.

The VTOL landed and a J.A.C.K.D.A.W squad (Including a decorated J.A.C.K.D.A.W general, General Harold) greeted the boys. Tiger Clown approached Harold and informed him that they wanted the war between J.A.C.K.D.A.W and the Z-MARINES to end, so that they could combine forces and defeat the Pirate Movement once and for all. The General stated that as much as he hated the Z-MARINES, he was ultimately correct. He said that he would attempt to have J.A.C.K.D.A.W and the Z-MARINES join forces only on the grounds that the Clown Force assist J.A.C.K.D.A.W in an upcoming pirate offensive that would take place at Fort Resolute, an old abandoned fort on the dunes overlooking the shores of Chag Beach on Grand Island, Planet Chag that J.A.C.K.D.A.W had revamped and moved into making it their base of operations on Dimension Z. Tiger Clown took agreed to the terms and shook Harold's hand.

The Battle of Chag Beach
Hound was also present at The Battle of Chag Beach, after being recommissioned into J.A.C.K.D.A.W along with Heroton and Hawk.

In the early hours of the next day, J.A.C.K.D.A.W aswell as their Chag Federation Army allies, readied themselves at Fort Resolute, preparing for the incoming pirate assault, led by the ruthless Captain Juffela. Suddenly, several Pirate warships appeared on the horizon of the sea, and started firing at the fort, with pirate infantry dropping on the beach and storming the fort. Harold ordered his men to charge at the pirates and a bloody battle took place, both on land and in the sea. Hound, Hawk and Heroton were among the J.A.C.K.D.A.W soldiers fighting on the beach, where they slaughtered many pirate militia. After many hours, J.A.C.K.D.A.W and the Chag Federation Army finally pushed the pirates back and word got out that Captain Jufella was assassinated by Daniel Astro. Hound and the other soldiers of the armies then regrouped at the damaged Fort Resolute, where they celebrated the win.

The Siege of Fort Red
After the Battle of Chag Beach, the Clown Force received intel from a pirate camp on the volcanic Boulder Island that the leader of the Pirate Movement, Captain Herring Oswald was hiding his militia at a massive abandoned military on the planet Mars II, known as Fort Red. The intel was shared with the J.A.C.K.D.A.W and Z-MARINE armies, now in coalition together in order to eliminate the Pirate Movement, ending their conflict. Their goal was to assassinate Oswald, take Fort Red and killing or capturing every pirate at the stronghold.

Hound was part of the infantry sent to storm Fort Red, however he wasn't fighting alongside the Clown Force initially and was at a different area of the siege, with Heroton, Hawk and other J.A.C.K.D.A.W troops. After the Clown Force parachuted out of a J.A.C.K.D.A.W ship right before it was blown up, they were met by Hound, Heroton and Hawk, opening fire on pirate militia and Mars Nation Army soldiers, a powerful fascist army based on Mars II that Oswald had made a deal with to assist them during the siege. Outnumbered, the squad continued to push up towards the base. Captain Arnold shouted down Astro's radio that Oswald was retreating from the fort and attempting to escape the battle. Suddenly, a mortar hit near the group, knocking them, disorientating them and splitting them up.

Hound and Hawk, slightly wounded, rose up to see a convoy of J.A.C.K.D.A.W infantry passing by them on the battlefield. Hound asked one of the passing soldiers on what was happening and he replied that the pirates were retreating and needed to be stopped. The two men then entered one of the Humvee's, with Hound on the mounted machine gun and Hawk providing support from the front seat. The convoy was being badly ambushed and was diminishing, until their truck was one of the only ones left. The Humvee then crashed into a large truck that was drove in front of the convoy's path.

Capture & Death
The men woke up in large tent at a pirate camp by a river bank, tied up to poles along with several wounded J.A.C.K.D.A.W and Z-MARINE infantry. The wounded Hawk asked the marine next to him what they were planning on doing with them, and he told them they were about to be executed by the sadistic Oswald himself. Hound broke free of the ropes, telling Hawk not to move until the time was right. A hijacked Humvee arrived at the camp, carrying Oswald. He left the vehicle and approached the captured soldiers alone. He closed the drapes of the tent and dawned a large sword from his sheath. Hawk and Hound glared at eachother, Hound then leaped at Oswald, attacking him. As they brawled, Hawk desperately attempted to break free of the ropes. He knocked Oswald's sword to the ground and they both went for it, but Oswald kicked Hound to the floor and grabbed his blade. As he went in to attack Oswald again, he impaled Hound through his torso and up through his head, killing him instantly. Hawk finally broke free and charged at Oswald, but was shot in the knee by MNA soldiers who heard the commotion from outside the tent. Oswald looked over Hawk and spat on him as he blacked out from the pain.

Aftermath
Hound was one of thousands of casualties at the Siege of Fort Red, on both sides. Along with hundreds of allied POWs', his carcass was thrown in the river and never found. He was avenged by Guru, who later executed Oswald with a flying knife to the skull, securing the allied victory at Fort Red. Thousands of pirates and MNA soldiers were taken as POWs' and sent to Planet Craggle for internment. The Pirate Movement dwindled out slowly due to their severely reduced numbers. Hawk's status is unknown.