NOS-4-A2 is a major villain in the Kingdom Hearts Unlimited Saga, serving as the Rank XI in the original Dominion XIII. He is a robotic energy vampire created by Emperor Zurg that can bend other machines, including other robots, to his evil will.
He is actually the mastermind behind a secret faction of Dominion dissenters who wish to overthrow Zurg and his loyal followers just to assume their power in the process, using Guinevere as his tool to drive Taran mad with hatred and blind obedience to false memories of the past.
Story[]
The Keyblade Wars[]
The loss of a life with a promised future is tragic, to say the least, and even more so given the loss of humanity it had assumed before it was overtaken by darkness. Such was the fate of Count Orlok, who would drastically change into the cybernetic vampire known as NOS-4-A2.
Born during the time of the Land of Legend, Count Orlok was a young nobleman from an esteemed noble family of the First Kingdom. Little is known of his former activities as a human, but he was known to be among the Dandelions selected by the Foreteller Master Iris, tasked to defend the universe from the forces of the Old One Chernabog. In his mission to keep order in the universe from the Ancient Old Ones, Orlok was ambushed by the Demon Lady Lilith, who persuaded him to join the cause of Chernabog with promises of power in return. When Orlok spurned her offer, Lilith decided to take him by force. In the subsequent confrontation, Orlok managed to drive the Demon Lord away, though at the expense of leaving a mark on his neck, which Lililth took advantage of by biting him at his weakest point.
Ever since then, Orlok was driven to paranoia due to the mark left behind by the Old Ones. Sowing doubts in Orlok's mind, the Old Ones reminded him of his noble mission and compared it with the reality of the situation, where even his closest compatriots fought over the possession of lux shards, particles of light drawn from slain Darkhearts, becoming bitter rivals with his former companions. As time went on, he grew distant from the calls of the Dandelions, influenced by the whispers of darkness drawn to his mind. In a misunderstanding brought about by his compatriots, Orlok's hatred and rage towards the incompetent Dandelions were brought up as a manifestation of darkness that engulfed his whole being. His humanity gone, Orlok became a rogue monstrosity, succumbing to his lust for power and becoming among the vampiric products in the service of the Old Ones. Despite his transformation, he was thwarted by the efforts of the Dandelions, who slew him and sealed his remains in a dark coffin. Wanting to keep anyone from releasing the creature into the world, the Dandelions banished the cargo to another dimension, eventually transporting it to the Realm of Emptiness in the contemporary era.
In Between BOANE and The Journey[]
Still imprisoned within his coffin, Orlok was retrieved by the Space Ranger Warp Darkmatter and the Sith-user Darth Maul on orders of Emperor Zurg, who was informed of his existence by his mysterious adviser Wiseman, eager to have the vampire under the service of Zurg's organization. Brought into the scientific lab of Doctor Frankenollie and the Mad Doctor XXX, Orlok underwent a procedure of cybernetic conversion, turning his organic lifeform into a robotic cyborg, one of which drained pure energy from his victims instead of blood-related biological lifeforms. Inspired by the name of a silent film in the 1920s, which was based on the lord of vampires itself, Zurg, Frankenollie, and the Mad Doctor gave a new name for their creation.
Thus, NOS-4-A2 was rechristened as such by his superiors and placed in Rank XI within the Dominion XIII. Unknown to Zurg and his allies, NOS-4-A2 had been installed with a sentient mind, one of which left him questioning the goals of the Dominion XIII and rebelling against the authority of the organization, despite sharing the collective cause of the organization.
When the twelfth member, the malfunctioning gestalt android XL, joined the order, he ended up crossing paths with NOS-4-A2 and asked how he came to join the Dominion as well. The energy vampire responded that it was no different from how the former robot ranger was found: broken and abandoned by those who once called them friends, and they both shared their feelings on how boring they found the castle to be. The discussion soon shifted to their assigned roles in the Dominion's grand plan, including the importance of ascending beyond their fractured state to become gods instead of mortals. When XL sheepishly confided that he found having a heart to be too painful considering everything he went through and that he was much better off as a freak of nature without a soul, NOS-4-A2 agreed that the goal of the more sympathetic members desiring to regain their heart-souls and nothing else beyond that to be a waste of time. As the two wandered off together, they began to formulate a plan to overthrow the current leadership of the Dominion and instill upon the universe a new order of cybernetic perfection all in their image.
A Year of Misery[]
(His turn tutoring young Wart and being reminded of the Silver Millennium incarnations before leaving to begin plotting his own schemes)
The Chain of Memories[]
(Big Bad of Taran's side of the story)
An Empire of Dreams[]
(Is revived and rebuilt to serve Emperor Zurg under penalty of death should he disobey again; stills ends up teaming up with Jafar to try and overthrow him; one of the true masterminds behind the second Beauty and the Beast visit alongside Darth Maul and Forte; makes his move during the failed wedding at the Imperial Palace; is brainwashed and reprogrammed into a mindless servant of the Doom Phantom to ensure his complete obedience; seemingly destroyed by Taran as payback for what happened in COM)
The Fantasmic Dreamtime[]
(Makes a cameo as part of the newly inducted True Dominion XIII, having learned to accept his role in the organization after one too many failures to elevate his station in life)
Return of the Keyblade[]
(The big bad of the return campaign to Corona, having revived Gothel to use her in kidnapping Rapunzel for Emperor Palpatine's plans)
Appearance and Personality[]
Lithe and slender, NOS-4-A2's design resembles that of a typical vampire. His body is composed of sharp corners; pointed shoulders, taloned claws, and a body that ends in a sharp point. His head, resembling an upside-down triangle, sports a simple orange-colored right optic and a monocle-shaped left optic. His tongue is long and occasionally ends in a forked tip, and he possesses four fangs that are similar to drills to feed with.
Like most robots, NOS-4-A2 "bleeds" servo-fluids, has a servo-pump for his "heart", and a motherboard for his "brain". NOS-4-A2 is arrogant; even more arrogant than Zurg. He flaunts his position and power, employs the use of minions to do his bidding, and after his first "failure" becomes his own villain, no longer taking orders from Zurg.
Unlike Zurg, he seems more serious with what he does. However, like Zurg, he enjoys being evil, and seems to enjoy conquest, as he decides to take over Planet Z, Zurg's domain, and then use Planet Z as his base of operations to take over the rest of the universe.
He seems to enjoy draining energy from various machines, having no sense of remorse or pity for those he drains. He also seems to like to try sapping new energy sources, such as power generators, or the energy from the high-tech appliance delivered to Cosmo's Cosmic Diner, which harnessed an unnamed "new energy source" that seemed to hold a lot of power. However, he doesn't seem to enjoy draining batteries, and usually will only do so to feed himself until he can find a better food source.
Most importantly, NOS-4-A2 seems to have an obsession with his superiority over the other Dominion members. As the lord of Castle Oblivion, NOS has the ability to keep many members of the Dominion under his thumb. He even manipulates Frankenollie into fighting Taran by using the doctor's fear of failing Zurg against him, though he lacked the foresight to realize the monkey doctor would gain control of the situation to formulate his own plans. Even though most of NOS-4-A2's personality traits are negative, he does have a few positive aspects. Some of these include his devotion and persistence to succeed in his goals and continuing his plans to overthrow the Dominion even after Ben Ali's betrayal and the defeat of XL and the Wirewolf. He's a very adamant member of Dominion XIII. NOS believes that he deserves more respect than he's given. All in all, NOS is a very egotistical, manipulative member of the Dominion who would stop at nothing to overthrow Zurg and become superior.
Abilities[]
NOS-4-A2 wields the power of "Death" and uses it in battle for most of his abilities.
- Energy Absorption: NOS-4-A2 can drain energy from robots, machines, weapons, environmental suits, and if no other source is available, batteries. Energy is his sole source of food, and serves to strengthen him. As long as his target is in close proximity, he can absorb its energy and even disintegrate weapons. However, in order to drain a machine, he has to bite it.
- Energy Blasts: NOS-4-A2 can fire beams of blue energy from his hands and his mouth to attack his opponents and control machines. They can temporarily stun a target.
- Finger Rays: Although never used in battle, NOS-4-A2's fingers have been shown to be able to peel back and emit a fiery-hot beam similar to a blowtorch that can heat up and even melt some metals given time.
- NOS-4-A2's "wings" glow with energy when activated.
- Grisly Wing: Manipulates a countless swarm of bats, and begins a surprise attack.
- Crimson Lightning: Uses a stream of mechfluid like a whip.
- Flight: Possessing no feet or wheels, NOS-4-A2 moves around by hovering a few inches above the ground. For long-distance travels or heights more than a few meters, he uses his wings instead. His wing's skeletal structure consists of red spines, the wing itself being made up of red-orange-colored energy when in use.
- Mind Control: By biting a robot or a machine (or using energy on machines or robots he has already bitten) NOS-4-A2 can simultaneously drain it and hack into its systems, installing a mind control program that enables him to command it in any way he pleases.
- Monocle: NOS-4-A2's left eye serves more of a purpose than a simple eye. Emitting a beam of red light, NOS-4-A2 can hypnotize robots and apply a similar type of mind control (though with limited duration) as with his bites.
- Randometer: NOS-4-A2 had once installed a randometer in his power grid to prevent others, like XR and Savy SL2, from draining him dry. Instead, it sends a current of energy as backlash to the opponent. However, the randometer was destroyed when Savy impaled NOS-4-A2 in the chest with her specialized power absorption unit.