Welcome to NEOTOKYO. The year is 2031; the city is on the edge tipping the scale of power. A brooding conflict has startled the short-lived peace and the archaic dream of ultranationalist ideals have been birthed by fire and sweat. Japan is - and will forever be - a changed place when the dust finally settles. Until then, the covert conflict will continue to fester, and poison the cleanliness of a neon, yet darkened, city.
And how did all of this come about? A rewind would take you to the annum of fire: 2012. The height of the modern world's political uproar climaxed with an event so catastrophic that it forever shaped the nation of Japan. North Korean leader, Tae Jeong-Mun, unleashed a singular piece of its nuclear arsenal at the wish of the dying man's breath. Its target was the inner fringes of the Greater Tokyo Area, and beyond all expectations the warhead connected to its target. A ten-kiloton payload flattened a portion of the city south of its port, specifically within Yokohama streets. Though its destructive power was paled by comparison to other superpower's tests, the weapon rippled through the world's political machine and threw it into chaos. A quarter of Tokyo was demolished with over a half becoming uninhabitable in the span of an hour. A new age of trauma plagued Asia, and the rest of the world could smell the foul stench it had created.
The next decade was one of strange prosperity. Behind the scenes of the global stage, technology boomed at an accelerated manner. Fire and flame was replaced by wire and sparks. The early age of the cybernetic future was out of concept, and the viewing glass spotted a distant goal where Japan, and possibly the rest of the world, could recover from its wounds. An era of neon lights, tall skyscrapers and a shadowed underbelly came into fruition. And there was no greater centre point than NeoTokyo, the metropolis birthed from the ashes of its predecessor. But with them, and the disturbed memory of the bomb, mankind's fusion with technology pressures Japan's political, social and economic standing into uncertainty. End of Days neocults begin to take a rise in popularity - for the end is always on the doorstep, it seems. Many claim that Japanese society lost its once treasured cohesion, and has found itself fractured and displaced.
The raising of the new skyscrapers, highstreets and landscape could, however, not fix one critical sickness. A massive wave of right-wing nationalism takes the country by storm. Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, the "no war" clause, is struck from the nation's identity - letting the military off its leash almost completely. From its ascension, the military undergoes reconstruction with the JINRAI's formation. An elite wing within the strengthened military, it takes the form of a nationalistic special operations unit comprised of men and women whose loyalty to the country is beyond question. It quickly grew in power and became the leading policy shaper for Japan's Self Defence Forces.
With such power came its visions for Japan. It yearned to correct its displacement with an ideal of order, discipline and prowess, where it could connect itself to the power-struggles of the world and face it with a defensive touch. At least that was the most common popular image for the Jinrai, with many splintering alterations to how such a nation should develop and revolutionise leading to inside disagreements. And so, after a bitter election fought between the right, left and centre, a popular moderate Prime Minister - Konno Mashai - took the office successfully. At first, the Jinrai ignored them, considering him inconsequential towards their ideals, yet that changed when they struck first.
An unsuccessful military coup challenged the already fragile foundation of Japan. Ranking members of the Jinrai were unable to depose Mashai's leadership and unleashed a steadfast, staunch opponent into their plan. Prime Minister Mashai's response was the formation of the National Security Force, better known by the abbreviated NSF, created to investigate and eliminate all known threats to the new Japan, both internally and externally, all whilst answering directly to Mashai. With this, the Jinrai become a primary target, and out sparks a war within the shadows between the empowered splinter factions and the newly equipped NSF, both keen to bring an end to their ideals swiftly.
Now, the city is being fed a rising tension between factions unseen to the public eye. Neocults, criminal organisations, independent threats and their opposing forces are blended together in the mess that is NeoTokyo. A question of what its future will be like is unclear, but would you like to find out?
>The 2031 Situation - November
>The Jinrai and NSF conflict has been mostly quiet for the past two years since its inception. The public eye lost focus on its build-up a month after the Jinrai's coup, and things seemed to go by as they had been before: miserably. Those bright, neon lights couldn't shed its radiance on the mood of the populace or the sting of the violence. However, its still very much a real threat. Combined estimations of around 3,250+ Jinrai and governmental personnel have been killed in direct confrontation in those two years. Over a hundred operations have been conducted by the NSF to varying scales and thousands of investigations, raids and unprompted engagements have arisen. Unrecorded civilian casualties are projected at 5,000 by direct line of fire, and those outside of operations are widely debated.
>The Iwata Honomi Investigation
>Ex-NSF Operative, Iwata Honomi, was placed under investigation by former staff shortly after her departure from the organisation. She was awarded her discharge due to mental stress, supposedly, but close surveillance was ensured to monitor her activities and to prevent any information leakage. Two field-operatives were designated to watch her but in early August they reported sightings of her interacting with prolific Jinrai individuals. On August 29th, two Operatives - Shunsen and Bykov - went to investigate her homeplace under the assistance of the field operatives' advice, only to be ambushed by Jinrai personnel. Eight minutes later, a bomb was detonated within the residence. Iwata has been confirmed as disposed of and was said to have been the cause of detonation. One operative was incapacitated and the Crackdown began.
>NSF Internal Crackdown
>On August 29th, shortly after the Honomi Investigation, a member of NSF's tech team handed out individual firewall protection programmes that bypassed that of the current Stronghold System - as it occurred within the same timespan as the ongoing crisis, suspicions were immediately cracked down upon. Under executive orders from Prime Minister Mashai himself, a large list was formed to accurately investigate specific members involved in the firewall scandal and to catch dissenters before they could do more damage. Both field operatives working on the Honomi Monitoring have since been reported: AWOL. The List of Suspects comprises of all foreign operatives within the NSF, as well as around 47 handpicked, native personnel.
>The Kanagawa Ward Raid
>Though delayed, the Kanagawa Ward Raid, previously planned for August 30th, was launched on September 10th. Twenty-six operatives took part in the field and assaulted two Jinrai personnel within the Old-Tokyo exclusion zone ruins. Fighting was described as stressful and brutal by reporting participants. Thirty-eight Jinrai personnel were present, as well as two unidentified contacts they were meeting with; one was Caucasian, and the other was later identified as a Mrs Macedo by one interrogation. No further information has been extracted since. Raid was considered a success. Several weapon caches were recovered and/or destroyed and the locale's Jinrai operations. Around nine Jinrai personnel were found dead, one was intercepted and arrested and the rest dispersed either unscathed or with injuries. Two NSF operatives were killed and a further seven were wounded. Mashai hopes that NSF's recent victory will turn things around for the previous setbacks and will help calm things down. The last thing the public needs is for a visible war in their streets.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to NeoTokyo! This is a near-future roleplay scenario based on the Half Life 2 mod of the same name, hoping to take the light lore of its world and turn it into something story-orientated! This is the second edition of this roleplay starting several weeks after a previous rendition of it (2031.11.D01 summarises this). Don't worry if you aren't familiar with NeoTokyo whatsoever, its entire lore was basically spread out in this OOC, as it was originally a multiplayer mod.
But what does this world entail? Well, it's cyberpunk-esc but a bit more familiar and grounded. Tall towers, neon lights and shady business practices are far and wide! And whilst the technology of the era hasn't quite hit the levels expected in other worlds of similar style (like Ghost in the Shell or Cyberpunk 2077), there's still a level of wonder behind implants, enhancements and augmentations. Replacement limbs are extremely expensive, yet easily obtainable through spatting factions and syndicates. Truth be told, I may have to negotiate some ideas behind those augmentations if you wish to implement them, so its always good to suggest your idea beforehand to help it fit the universe a bit better!
That being said, I don't think it'll be restrictive of creativity. The world is mouldable by our actions, as most RPs are I'd imagine, and our allegiances can or will be changed; tested or strengthened based on the events that go forth, I should hope. We'll be beginning the RP aligned to the NSF's Operations, within their ranks.
I don't plan for this roleplay to only focus on Jinrai vs NSF encounters, investigations and/or dirty works, and it will open to expand the smaller parts of the world that hold hands with the conflict. Neocults, criminal gangs, businesses that fund opposing sights, informants, external terrorism, internal conflict and the basic life of a cybernetic near future! Bars, brawls, brothels and back alleys: all the dark corners of NeoTokyo's neon luminosity will be featured and open to development - also adding the spice of the everyday life, romances, criminal activities, sexual scandals and whatnot. There is an overarching plot, set with key events such as operations, throughout the story to help guide the players if needed!
So, for the character sheet and characters in question, I'll just run down a few things here and there. Augmentations, implants and enhancements are not a necessary component to the characters, and can be held back from to add more dynamic to the group. Considering their expenses, its sometimes expected to have a "less is more" approach. That being said, I'm still open to see what you might come up with and suggest. It might be easier to ask first if you're unsure just in case it goes a bit too beyond the scope of possibility. Though it's not a great measurement, the most advanced piece of technology is a very limited active camouflage for the highest tier-personnel on either side.
Equally, their role within the NSF (on the RP's start) will also be an important factor. Are they exclusively a techy? Maybe they are a bit of a hybrid role, like an Investigative Combat Specialist? Or maybe they go straight into field medication, or just partake in raids and have downtime quite frequently? There are some available senior roles but they are up for request. For the physical character sheet, though, feel free to alter its design and style to your heart's contempt! As long as the necessary information is in the sheet, I'm not overly fussed on the design of it and encourage it instead.
An image of the character could go here. If you use an image, still write down a physical description in the ideal section. If you do not use an image, please extensively describe the character.
Name Should be simple enough
Nationality Ditto
Age The age for characters onward will be 18-39 unless requested otherwise.
Sexuality Self-explanatory
Birth The date of birth and place.
Appearance Description of how they look, physically as well as in their clothing. Perhaps choose on and off duty clothing as well for extra pizzazz! This should include their NSF attire (providing you are still within the organisation at the time of reading this), as well as their non-combat uniforms and civilian wear. At later dates, if allegiances can be swapped or independent groups are setup, this is free to edit.
Not only this, but also describe physical attributes towards their appearance, such as hair colour, body stature, eye colour and more to what the face claim does and doesn't show. If any visible parts to augmentations or enhancements, write them up here too!
Height Easy enough.
Personality What kind of person are they usually, both on duty and off duty?
Role What is their role within the faction they are a part of? For most, this can range between Recon, Support and Assault for basic and easy-to-follow sets, but more specialised can include covert specialists, investigatory combat units, supporting technical specialists and more.
Equipment Weaponry, gadgets related to their job, armour attachments, etc. If a character has augmentations then you can also list specific equipment that may be embedded into said augmentations. Please make sure that most augmentations are ran by the GM to ensure that they aren't over the top.
Previous Careers Did they have any affiliation or careers before joining the NSF? These can be relevant or rather minor to justify small personality traits that will spike up as the story goes. Can also be used to hint towards skills, as long as they aren't flawless.
Biography Who was this person before they joined the NSF? Were they a simple civilian dedicating their life to a cause after the Nuking of 2012, or perhaps they have a much more militarised background? Childhoods, what brought them up and maybe key information that will help show what shapes them as an individual.
Affiliations Who are they related to? Do they have any major friends or life-impacting allies prior to the RP's beginning?
Relationships [Optional] This is how they view other characters throughout the story. This could be updated as major changes in their connections and view of one another is expanded upon. Most changes can be listed from experiences out of combat, but some can occur from within their combat positioning out in the field. This can cover rivals, those they hate, romantic interests, friends, or simply acquaintances and work-colleagues if you want.
Character Theme [Optional] Not necessary, but can be used if wished. Just a tad fun.
I hope you guys are interested in the setting, and for those who are just make yourself heard in the OOC! The RP, for the most part, may end up being open to applications throughout its life as I don't have too many qualms in a large group. If there's any questions about the roleplay, I'll be ready to answer them whenever I am free! We'll likely end up using discord for an easier "ooc" conversation place, but RPG's thread is just as valid too. I may have missed out a few details, so again ask away if you're intrigued about anything relevant! Welcome to NeoTokyo, and I hope you enjoy your stay.
5'11, pale skin, a single grim grey eye and a tight bun of bright blue hair. Walking into Caitlyn's office puts you face to face with a woman in her fourties who has absolutely no time for any shit you might be thinking about putting on her. Both of Caityln's lower legs have been replaced by custom made bionics and her well-toned form is marked with scars of previous fights, scores of shrapnel, slashes and shots indelibly marked into her skin.
Name Caitlyn Ellesworth. 'Miss. C' to underlings not on missions, 'Puma' when on missions. Calling her 'Cougar' is a fantastic way to earn her ire. Friends get to call her Cat.
Nationality American (Nationality.) White American/Slavic (Ethnically.)
Age 42.
Sexuality Pan.
Birth East Coast Sprawl, USA, 15th July 1989.
Appearance As previously mentioned, Caitlyn stands at around 5 foot 11 inches (180cm) making her slightly above average in her home of America and quite obviously above average admist her shorter Japanese colleagues. Her hair has been consistently dyed a deep blue since her early 20s, to the point where few remember her original hair colour is a light brown.
When on duty, Caitlyn wears a well-tailored black suit and a blue tie that matches her hair, the only sign of her doorkicking days the fact that she wears a set of military boots, the leather polished until it's so shiny you can see your reflection in it. Off-duty, she defaults to a set of semi-formal black jeans and simple long-and-short sleeved t-shirts depending on the weather, often defaulting to a jacket unless it's particularly warm. Usually however, her clothing covers up the most distinctive part of her- the fact that both of her legs have been replaced by cybernetic enhancements. Something of a cyberware purist, Caitlyn's legs are a distinctive shiny chrome, partially a design choice, and partially an intelligent ruse, because Caitlyn has another set of cybernetics far fewer peoople are aware of- her eyes.
Both of her eyes have been replaced by a complicated series of prosthetics, and over one she dons a strapless black eyepatch, made from an electroreceptive surface that has the property of allowing her cybernetic eye to see through it without any loss of visibility. Her remaning eye is almost entirely indistinguishable from a regular biological one, which is, of course, exactly what she wants.
Height 5'11/180cm
Personality Once, Caitlyn was quite the party girl. Or so her old colleagues say. Now she hasn't touched a bottle in more than a decade, anything that goes into her lungs that isn't air is vapourised and she seems to relish clocking in far more than clocking out. Fiercly intelligent when it comes to cybernetic systems, Caitlyn holds a PHD in Cybernetic Engineering, earned over more than thirteen years of work, most of which was on her own body parts. Having overcome limb loss, addiction and the death of more colleagues than she'd care to admit, she's often seen as icy and frigid, but the truth is she's simply much more careful about who she allows herself attachment to. What good is it becoming acquainted with a brand new agent when they could be lying on a cold slab in two weeks time?
Role Squad Operational Manager. Caitlyn's days as a direct field worker have mostly come to an end (although she's still a surprisngly mean shot with quick enough reactions to take on a man half her age and come out on top,) but she's not lost more than two decades of combat experience, and is happy to pass it on to those below her. Sitting in her office, looking through camera feeds or controlling arieal recon units, more than one assault team member owes their life to Caitlyn foiling an ambush.
Equipment Weaponry & Armour
H&K SOCOM 24: A modernised variant of the SOCOM 23, the 24 is a semi-automatic large-frame pistol firing 14 .45 super rounds before needing a reload. A holdover from her FBI days, hers is quite clearly the USSOCOM variant, sporting a laser aiming module, surpressor and a red-dot sight. It's extremley rare that Caitlyn is ever seen without this gun strapped to her.
H&K SFP9-M: Despite being made in Germany, the gun has been standard issue in the Japanese army for 11 years. 20 9x19mm shots, held inside her intergrated leg holster. This is Caitlyn's 'backup' or 'holdout' weapon.
Dynatech Industries Hand Taser: A normal-looking pair of black driving gloves with a series of metal contact points located in the knuckles. When clenched into a fist, the glove is turned on, causing the contact points to crackle with 50,000 volts. Each glove can carry two charges before needing a recharge, the process of which takes three hours per glove charged. The weight of the electronics also makes for a reasonable knuckleduster in a pinch.
Lightweight Ballistic Vest: A simple, relatively thin and unnoticable kevlar vest most easily compared to a waistcoat rather than actual combat-ready armour. Although poor against knives and unlikely to stop heavier bullets from penetrating through, shotguns and lighter calibres will be halted, albeit with a tremendous amount of pain and blunt force imparted on Caitlyn in the process.
Augments
Custom-Made Cybernetic Leg Replacements. Caitlyn's thesis. Her pride and joys. Shockingly chrome, silk to the touch and tougher than titanium, her legs are built to last and can dish out no small amount of pain themselves. Resistant to fire, heat, cold, acid, bases, EMPs, piercing and slashing damage, blunt and concussive impacts and probably would be radiation-resistant if not for how redundant that would be. They also feature numerous concealed compartments, including a holster in the right calf, a small bug-out kit in her right thigh and a storage compartment in her left thigh. Finally, they have a set of pneumatic jacks capable of unleashing a devastaing amount of pressure to anything underneath them, easily capable of destroying conventional car engine blocks at a cost to the long-term structural integrity of her legs, her spine and any shoes she might be wearing.
Custom-Made Cybernetic Eye Replacements. Although not lavished over like Caitlyn's legs, her eyes have a few tricks to them as well. With the ability to switch into low-light and heat-sensitive vision modes, a 'dazzle guard' feature that automatically blacks out her vision to protect it from sudden bursts of light and will slowly adjust to brighter lights, a 30x zoom and a covert recording feature originally designed for undercover work, they're not to be underestimated.
Heart Monitor. Independent of her heart's functioning is this monitor. The usage of it should be obvious.
Artificial Hormone Regulator. An extraordinarily common implant, this allows Caitlyn to adjust the hormone balance in her body. Normally used in order to increase adrenaline before a fight, but has other usages too.
High-Density Bone Lattice: By 'weaving' together muscle and bone, both body parts benefit. Caitlyn's muscles are tougher, more tear-resistant and tire slower, whilst her bones are far less likely to break under most circumstances.
Previous Careers Caitlyn worked with the USA's FBI for longer than most of the people she's worked with have been in the Security Force. She knows the rules and she knows them well; although the country has changed, people haven't. Before her time in the intelligence services she worked, rather oddly, as a mechanic, which laid the groundwork for the mechanical knowledge she now uses for her cybernetics work.
Biography Caitlyn's early life was not an easy one. Born in the slums of the East Coast Sprawl, a megacity that stretched from New York to Washington DC, she grew up in a smoggy rat maze of poverty and crime. Her father worked as a car mechanic, although in the slums he was often more of a car scrapper, whilst her mother made money through odd jobs- maidwork here, food delivery there, and even a few times unsteady office work in call centres or as a secretary. When she was a child, Caitlyn often suffered from severe asthma attacks thanks to the air pollution, and with parents too poor to be able to afford inhalers and medicine she would have to suffer through these, sipping in air and desperately trying not to succumb to panic.
The family's poor fortunes took an unexpected change however when her father's vocation adjusted slightly. Rather than breaking down parts, he was approached by one of the sprawl's many gangs who thought his skills could be useful to them; chop shopping and frankenstining damaged cars together. Although not the most ethical way of making money it certainly managed to pay the bills, and when Caitlyn was old enough, put some spending money in her pockets too. When she was seventeen however, things changed, two well-dressed gentlemen approaching her and informing her that they knew of her father's secrets, and unless she became an informant they'd come down on her father like a sledgehammer.
Reluctantly, she was inducted into the FBI as little more than a humble snitch. Terrified that her secret would be discovered or that she'd fail and her father would be imprisoned, she walked a thin line with surprising grace, until, two years later, the operation came to an end and she was offered a choice- enter witness protection, or become an FBI enforcer. Tired of being powerless, she chose the second option, 'imprisoned' as part of the sting's ending and being taken to a Bureau training facility where she learnt the rules of this new world.
As an active agent, Caitlyn was on the frontlines of raids across the sprawl, and the threats to her life were numerous. Eventually, one caught up to her. A breach gone wrong resulted in both of her legs being blown off, the tatters of her thighs so bad that they had to be amputated in order to allow for her implants to be put in. Whilst she recovered she took the time to apply her previous mechanical knowledge to this new part of her biology, studying for a degree in Cybernetic Engineering at FBI educational instutitions. Returning to active duty and undercover work would see Caitlyn turning to alcohol as a way of self-medicating the numerous psychological problems she had picked up thanks to her work. After one undercover operation went bad and her cover was blown, she returned to the agency's fold with a new individual- another criminal-turned agent who she would fall into a relationship with.
Slowly climbing through the ranks (and seeing her boyfriend dispatched to a decades long undercover operation) she would emerge at age 35 significantly changed woman. Proper therapy and medication had seen her leave behind alcohol to deal with her problems, and she had gone from a field agent into a departmental director, responsible for the administrative overview of cybernetic crime units across the sprawl. Here she remained for six years, until in 2030 she was reccomended to be sent abroad to Japan, where the NSF had been offered a small number of veteran agents. Although having technically received a fairly major demotion her pay hasn't seen an equivalent cut, leaving her in an odd position of frustrated at the xenophobic NSF structure whilst also content that her skills are still being used.
Affiliations Most of Caitlyn's old friends have been left behind in America, and her mother and father have been dead for more than twenty years.
Relationships [Optional] This is how they view other characters throughout the story. This could be updated as major changes in their connections and view of one another is expanded upon. Most changes can be listed from experiences out of combat, but some can occur from within their combat positioning out in the field. This can cover rivals, those they hate, romantic interests, friends, or simply acquaintances and work-colleagues if you want.
Appearance A very conservative gentleman, Takeda always dresses up formally even for the slightest bit of an afternoon walk. There's almost always only two sets of outfits you'll see him in. The first is his professional life, which consists of the simple black NSF's officer uniform. The second is his non-professional, which consists of a double button suit and tie all year round. The tone of the color ranged from blue to dark grey, sometimes dark green. A small badge of political membership is hooked on his left collar. In colder days, he'd be sporting a white overcoat and perhaps a long scarf. There is actually a third set of clothes: his private life, which is still as conservative as ever, but chances are you'd never see that from him, as he tended to keep his private life very...well...private.
For his age, he was sometimes regarded as older than he should've been, and it was rather true. A rather turbulous life had led to some wrinkles spreading on his chiseled face. But make no mistakes, beneath the old cover is still a very well-built physique, one that can still rival a man in his prime. His black hair is noticeably short and combed-over, adding more to his formal impressions.
Takeda also appears to limp in his right knee, due to his injury during the Siberian expedition. This is accompanied with a walking cane that never left his side.
Height 5'9"
Personality Everyone who has worked with Takeda has been known to brand this austere old man to be distrustful, and they all have a point. Takeda is a man of flexibility, in almost any possible way. He can be democratic when it suits the situation, but he can be brutally suppressive when it needs be. He can use very inhumane methods for his goals, but he also knows when to rub the wound. One of the few things inflexible and set in stone for this sharp man is his principle of pragmatism. It transcends his ideology. It defies morality. What matters is the end, not the means. And whoever has made their distrustful remarks couldn't help but admit that he was a useful asset if not essential. Once the job is given, he almost always finish with his characteristic brutal efficiency. But in the world full of nationalistic rhetorics, pragmatism or nuances would almost always be seen as two-faced.
On a professional level, Takeda is a man of little word, preferring to use facial expressions or concise phrases to deliver his message. And you can expect almost no jokes around this man, and even less lenience. An air of tension usually hangs around him, as he seems to be watching your every move, judging you with his cold and calculated gaze, wondering to yourself what had you done this time. He demands good results, and generally doesn't care how you achieve it. He is not outright cruel to his subordinates, but can definitely be pushed to that point Role NSF Board of Administration
Equipment A walking cane. Multitools Odourless Hand Sanitizer Wipes Cyanide Pill
Previous Careers JSDF Junior Officer Jinrai Counter-Intelligence Agency Branch No. 6 (in Siberia) Jinrai Secret Service Instructor Biography Takeda Ochisuita is born in Kai, Japan. His family is a fairly well-off family, with Takeda's father being a senior police officer in his province, but their philosophy for their child was no hand sanitizer. What was given to a child was the minimum for him to survive. If he wanted his life to improve, he had to work for it. At first easy things like washing the dishes or clean the house for his family, but soon shifted to outside jobs. And they were nowhere being lenient. They were once fully content to let his child starve for months to prevent laziness from taking over his schedule. This put a dent on Takeda's relationship with his parent, but also ironed out his defining character.
Despite his rough childhood, Takeda still found great interests in education, and while his school attendances were meagre, his incredible effort in self-studying had given him vast amount of knowledge in history, economics, politics and philosophy. However, by the time he was 20, he dropped out of university due to lack of fundings and joined the JSDF. There, thanks to his earlier life, he quickly developed a reputation by all accounts to be an impeccable soldier, with unparalleled discipline and diligence. He easily rose through the ranks of the JSDF, quickly becoming a Junior Officer in the army, though he had little intentions on being a military commander.
It was also here that Takeda met the group of men who would later form the notorious Jinrai corp. He found a lot of their ideas compatible, while the group had his well-developed reputation to admire the young soldier. They both shared a lot of worldviews, such as their wishes to abolish Article 9, that Japan should maintain a strong military presence, and that the current Japanese military is nowhere enough to deal with the current nuclear trend that the world is following. However, Takeda and the Jinrais also disagreed on many aspects as well, such as military expansionism, approaches to diplomacy, etc. In fact Takeda might be the most critical of the Jinrai from within their ranks, but knowing that spouting everything you believe in could be detrimental, so he kept his mouth shut and enjoyed the social circle he had.
And the earlier worry turned into a nightmare, when Tokyo was nuked. This presented the Jinrai (now not called so) a perfect political base to ascend to political influence. Takeda's connection with the founding members proved a golden opportunity, as they offered the young Takeda a position as an officer for the Jinrai's intelligence department. He took this offer without hesitation, and he went through brutal training to become a spy. Again, his iron discipline carried him through the day, and he was soon deployed, at first in Tokyo, but then to Siberia, where a joint-operation between Japanese and Russian operatives to root out political dissidents were taking place. There, he gathered confidential information, disrupted communications between insurgent groups and sometimes took part in rooting out high profile leaders. One time, he is assigned the task of assassinating a decently popular insurgent leader of a neocult. He completed his task successfully, but during the ensuing gunfight, Takeda took a high caliber bullet to his leg, badly damaging his kneecap. His partners luckily helped him escape, but this injury effectively put his Siberian expedition to an end. He was transported back to Japan for treatment, and while prosthetics were highly recommended by the doctors, since they guaranteed quick recovery of movements, Takeda, for strange reasons, refused them and instead chose surgery to repair his damaged kneecap instead. Months of recovery went by and he recovered, although he still limped when he walked and had to use a walking cane.
Not seeing the prospect of an active service as an intelligence officer very promising due to his injury, the Jinrai assigned him a training position instead. It was during these times that Takeda's opinion of the Jinrai began to take a major downturn. The ideological disagreements that he hid during his JSDF days had shown its cracks. He had been long critical of some of their social and diplomatic policies. He saw them as unnecessary and feelings-driven rather than for the good of the country, but tolerated them for their other better ideas. But now? After seeing what their behavior and how socially damaging it is to the people of Japan, Takeda was slowly and gradually disillusioned to the people that he once desired success for.
And so at one point, the once diligent servant of the Jinrai, Takeda secretly plotted against them. The election of Konno Mashai led to the Jinrai preparing a coup, and Takeda knew the information due to his great network of information. Takeda proceeded to feed the information to the new cabinet, which effectively contributed to the coup's failure. He also destroyed vital confidential documents to prevent information falling into the wrong hands, and erased his own trace after the betrayal.
When the NSF formed, the NSF leaders decided to offer one of the administrator's position to the former Jinrai spy. A bit of a surprise to the people who knew his reputation, but the NSF decided that they would rather have a potential opponent under their watch instead. For Takeda Ochisuita, the support for the current government may have been a necessary call to prevent a disaster brewing, it was still a throwback to the old government that he found particularly ineffective that led to the Tokyo tragedy. For now, he could tolerate this, but who knows if he'll switch sides again.
Appearance There is no place in Neo-Tokyo where Kaz doesn't stand out. Taller than nearly every man she meets by a good few inches and towering over most women by nearly a foot, she has to duck to get through doorways. If her height wasn't enough of a give away there's also the matter of her pale skin and green eyes. She's very clearly not native to Japan or even Asia, a mercenary hired out to assist the NSF. She doesn't even bother trying conceal herself, standing with her back straight as she pushes her way through busy crowds with ease. She doesn't put any particular stock in her appearance, wearing the basic NSF uniform when at work and the same set of jackets, shorts and t-shirt when not on duty.
Height 6 feet and 2 inches
Personality Thanks to a good bit of her limbic system being doused in experimental combat drugs and deep fried by electricity vital connections to humanity were severed. All negative emotions Kaz feels are amplified with anger seeing the most drastic increase. Meanwhile any positive emotions are nullified so that they're almost not even there, a drop in the ocean. When she smiles it's nothing more than a dry smirk or a forced grin, her eyes lacking any genuine warmth. Bykov certainly understands the concept of humor and isn't above cracking jokes herself but they lean towards the off-color or outright black.
Kaz has two modes: on and off. Usually she's operating in the off position, moving through life listlessly. She handles traffic, paperwork, taxes and firefights with the same tired frown. She stares straight through people when talking, focusing more on their mouth than their eyes and often paying more attention to the ever present cigarette in her mouth or between her fingers. The only conversation topic guaranteed to hold her undivided attention is that of cybernetics, an interest in the workings and development of mechanical augments a wistful holdover from her younger days.
Switching to on requires her to rotate her left wrist nearly 180 degrees so that the metal hinges allowing her to perform the contortionist feat send a signal to her injector system. Upon receiving electrical impulse the other half of her Fangtech augments kicks. The sedatives are drowned out by stimulants that numb dull pain and flood the mind with hate to be directed outwards at anything and anyone considered a threat. Bykov becomes more bear than woman, using maximum force to blast, batter or bludgeon down problems as they pop up. Turning on requires Kaz to set aside such useless concepts like fear, mercy, and concern for the well-being of others and as such is only done in dire circumstances. If the combat cocktail is pumping through her blood she is not likely to make conversation outside of threats and orders.
Role Heavy Weapons and Support Specialist
RIN-78 Minigun: A belt fed beast of a weapon. Weighing just under 100 pounds and capable of chewing through body armor, walls and light vehicles Kaz is only able to handle this thanks to her cybernetically enhanced strength. Overkill for most situations this weapon is relegated to being brought out only for high intensity raids. -H&K MG6: When the situation doesn't call for the sheer show of force displayed by the RIN Kaz relies on the MG6. What's ostensibly a LMG is light enough for her to handle like an assault rifle thanks to the strength granted by her augments. -SMG 155: Compact enough that it can be strapped to the body without snagging on things and carrying enough ammo to support its rate of fire the SMG 155 can be controlled by Kaz with a single hand thanks to her strength and the bulk of her armor.
Fangtech Injector System (Mk. Dasher): A modified version of the original injector system she was fitted with, this one has been specially insulated to make sure it can't be shocked into malfunctioning again. It regulates two chemical cocktails that can be activated as needed. The first is a constant microdose of a mild sedative that keeps her her imbalanced aggression in check. While its not enough to impact her motor control or speech (or to help her fall asleep sadly) the sedative keeps settled at a "normal" level of anger and prevents her from slipping into a murderous rage.
The second are combat drugs that essentially keep her fight or flight instincts turned to Fight, increasing her reflexes and speed while also helping the body to stop bleeding faster. She will hit harder, faster and with no hesitation. The downside is that using them for too long a period will fatigue her organs, forcing her heart to beat faster and her kidneys to try and purge the toxins. Too long using them and she'll either suffer a catastrophic heart attack or simply turn into little more than an enraged beast.
Side effects of the drugs include: persistent chills, sudden hot flashes, the need to constantly eat to keep up with the metabolic demands imposed on her system and random nose bleeds.
Muscle Enhancement and Bone Strengthening: Dasher's muscles have been interwoven with synthetic threads to provide increased strength and protect them from tears. This allows her to carry her gear with little strain, as well as making her a formidable melee opponent with the ability to shatter concrete blocks. Her bones have been artificially subjected to repeated micro breaks and allowed to heal, grafts of thin metal coating her shins, elbows, ribs, spine and skull. The end result is that her body is both incredibly strong and very durable, able to deflect glancing bullets and blades by itself and serving as a veritable steel wall when encased in her armor.
Eyes: Instead of relying on an external HUD Kaz has chosen to get it integrated directly into her eyes. She can choose to display all relevant information directly on her field of view as well as switching between normal, thermal and sonar vision. The third one in particular is very useful indoors, Dasher using it pick out targets behind walls and in cover before shooting through it.
Nemean Heavy Infantry Armor: A combination of high tensile steel plates, Kevlar and Nomex fabrics and ceramic plating the Nemean can resist small arms fire, flames, shrapnel and direct impacts from melee weaponry with ease. The auxiliary arm is synced to Kaz's inbuilt PHUD and is controlled by her thoughts while the helmet protects her from chemical weapons.
Ballistic Shield: Generally mounted on the mechanical arm provided by the Nemean Kaz uses this for a bit of extra protection in her role as point woman. The arm can rotate the shield around her up to three feet out and 360 degrees in any direction (space permitting)
Previous Careers -United States Army -Cardinal Command Security Consulting
Biography Kazankova Bykov was born at Anderson Air Force Base Hospital on the tiny island of Guam to Margaret Lyman, and American servicewoman, and Adrik Bykov, her Russian national husband. The marriage was already rocky and the birth of their daughter only seemed to worsen things between the couple, starting with her name. (Margaret wanted to name her daughter Kazankova despite it being a surname while Adrik thought it was stupid to do so.) Before she was even one year old Kazankova's parents had separated. Margaret would have her during the school year, Adrik would take care of her during the summer months. And so her childhood was spent mostly on the move, traveling from base to base with her mother only to fly off to Moscow every June. It was hard to make friends this way, barely having enough time to settle into a school before being shuffled out and having to explain to every interested child that no she couldn't come over for pool parties and barbecues this summer, she had to go to Russia with her father.
Without any real friends available to hang out with young Kaz had to find ways to amuse herself, taking up an early interest in the fields of robotics, cybernetics and weapons technology. While waiting for her classmates to finish a test she would read magazine articles about improvements on prosthetic limbs, her room filled with various half completed mechanical devices she would tinker with before losing interest. Her life revolved around working out with her mother and dissembling and reassembling various household appliances to figure out how they worked, with very little in between. Whenever something went wrong she could bury herself in her hobbies. During the days after Tokyo was immolated in nuclear fire when her mom would pace the kitchen floor, on edge and preparing to be called up to go fight in some irradiated field, she almost never left her room.
Her interest in robotics flourished and by the time she was a senior in high school she had won multiple state and national level contests. These victories won her scholarships to a number of engineering schools and she was being heralded as the poster child for the next generation of robotics experts and cybernetics designers. But she decided against that, having had enough of formal schooling. Instead she became Private Bykov of the United States Army, much to the chagrin of both parents who had wanted more for her.
While in the Army Bykov volunteered for a number of programs that allowed her to field test cybernetic augments as they came off the production line, taking an interest in their inner workings. Most of them turned out to work fine, enhancing her capabilities in the field with little to no trade off. But the Fangtech injector system gave her pause. Kazankova had managed to get her hands on a copy of the blueprints and almost immediately spotted major flaws in the system. When she tried to raise the issue she was essentially ordered to shut up and get the implants. So she did, and for a year or so they did their job. She was faster, stronger, more dangerous and aggressive, pushing through at any cost with almost no concern for her safety. It came at a cost of her humanity, Kaz feeling herself slip into the mindset of an angered bear every the drugs slipped into her system.
And it all went catastrophically wrong. When deployed to Afghanistan an IED set at a power substation she was guarding went off, the discharge of electricity overwhelming her injection system, triggering a massive overdose. Bykov dropped to the ground instantly, foaming at the mouth and bleeding from her eyes. She was left comatose for a week. There was a nurse on hand when she woke up which was how the alarm was raised. Kaz was still gripped by a murderous frenzy, snarling as she pummeled the nurse to death with her bare hands and blinded an orderly with a vicious headbutt before she could be subdued. It was another three months before she was able to go unrestrained, and a year after that before she was ruled as mentally stable.
There were no legal repercussions for her violent outburst. The courts found no fault with her, how could they? She had been ordered to use an unstable and untested set of combat drugs and it had unsurprisingly gone wrong. What she couldn't escape was guilt. Every time she closed her eyes she could see the look of shock and pain on the nurse's face, could hear a man's skull cracking and giving way as she drove her head into it. She was suffering from intense feelings of guilt and paranoia. More than that, she was no longer able to feel positive emotions. A side effect of her massive overdose was that her frontal lobe was permanently damaged, her emotional balance disturbed. Negative emotions such as anger and jealousy were magnified while any bit of happiness was so subdued it might as well as not been there.
Trapped in a sort of humorless nightmare and with nothing else to turn Kazankova became a mercenary, signing onto Cardinal Command Security Counseling as a heavy weapons expert and squad support. She spent time fighting separatists in Donbass, raiding narco drug stashes throughout Latin America and quelling riots in the United States for the better part of four years. It was this career revival that got her noticed by the newly formed Jinrai.
Evidently the destruction of Article 9 gave them right to recruit foreign mercenaries, a turn of events that probably made the Allied High Command roll in their graves. But Kaz wasn't one to consider the geopolitical ramifications of her employers. As long as the checks cleared and working for them wouldn't get her marked by Interpol then the Jinrai were just as legitimate a military organization as any other. The work wasn't much different and her comrades were much the same as they had always been: dangerous, determined men and women with military records stretching back a decade or more. The main difference was that now her cutthroat comrades fought for a cause even if Kaz didn't.
One of the more tolerable Jinrai operatives was Iwata Honomi, a capable combatant and decent human being. She was quiet, efficient, and good at keeping her mouth shut when it came to some of the more questionable raids they took part in. Most importantly Honomi seemed to under Kaz's condition and would go out of her way to try and calm her down she seemed at risk of exploding. Iwata was one of the good ones and Kaz was about as glad as she could be when her fellow operative bugged out of the Jinrai with her.
Them starting a coup would mean that staying onside would make Kaz an international fugitive which was one of her only two breaking points when it came to jobs. With no other prospects for the time being Kaz became a bouncer for the Vertex, a foreign friendly nightclub in need of dumb muscle. The position lasted six months before she was called in for a better job at the NSF thanks to Special Agent Honomi.
Once again she was doing what she was best at but without the risk of being disavowed if captured. She stuck around even after her patron left, doing as instructed even when that included taking Honomi down after she went rogue.
Affiliations - Margaret Lyman (Mother) - Adrik Bykov (Father) -Iwata Honomi (Friend from her Jinrai days, now dead)
Relationships [Optional] Takai Shunsen: The only person in the NSF Kaz can really relate to. They met through her friend and his mentor Iwata Honomi before she washed out of the NSF and kept up a cordial relationship, eventually becoming as close to friends as Kaz could really be with anyone. She had been at his side when they went to investigate their old contact and had gotten knocked onto her back by the explosion that took Taki's leg off. Kaz hangs out with him because she can rely on him not to piss her off.
Chris Bell:Another American and more importantly another American who fought in the Sandbox. Kaz would hang out with him for that reason alone but he also happens to be a pretty alright guy. They get beers (a formality for her, alcohol intoxication being a thing of the past) and chat about bullshit in English, a welcome change from stumbling through Japanese. He's solid, dependable and probably a little stupid but that's because he's a Marine so she can't hold it against him.
Birthplace: Itoman, Okinawa - Japanese January, 2001
~~~
Callsign: 'North 5-2'
Profile
Appearance
Takai Shunsen - once a meagre figure amongst his affiliates, the last three months have given him time to work on his physicality. Rigorous physiotherapy has given him a bit of bulk, more so than his previous stature pre-casualty, and he stands at an above-average height for his nationality: 5'9. Before, the long ruffled hair of the man seemed to give him the merit of reservation. He sports a much shorter hairstyle in line with Iwata Honomi's old colouring and style. His facial hair, though longer, is a lot more pristine in its presentation. To say Takai had tidied himself up would be an understatement, and it all came as part of a psychological package of 'self-care for sanity'. With that, the core features of his appearance remain the same. Green eyes, thin lips, same height; he still has relics of what he was before. Except for two specific areas - the right leg and the left forearm. Both are now replaced, fitted with something a lot less natural. At the cost of these replacements, his damaged muscle augmentations have been completely removed to reduce the threat of internal injury.
As for his attire, things are more or less the same as they were before. On duty, he's still capable of equipping the PHUD, or Personal Heads Up Display, as he had done before with the little braces in his temples. Though it's a middle-ground between a helmet's HUD and a fully engraved eye-implant, it grants that extra diversity between usefulness and preservation of natural looks. On a more common note, Takai still wears traditional NSF outfitting. He still wears operational gear, though his field-services are mostly levelled at investigation work, in which he can shift to a more sharp-casual look. On-base, he's usually seen with the usual in-house clothing, be it shirts and combats, with boots being the go-to footwear. Off duty, he still retains a slightly broken down fashion sense, a remnant of what he wants to fix.
Personality
Old habits die hard. And, additionally, they refuse to lay to rest when radicalised by trauma or discouragement. Takai is still determined to see his tasks through. Letting someone get away is a failure unless instructed otherwise. It creates a miserable aura around him, and worse still it grants horrific opportunities for them to strike back. In a nation, and city, where violence is the true form of changemaking, Takai has felt a burning desire to not let the target get on favourable grounds. The same habit had nearly cost him his own life.
Personally, he's become a mixed bag. A strict aura of professionalism is present around most people. Its a coping mechanism, some might say, to make up for his failures months prior. It also matches his tidier appearance. When it comes to discussing his limbs, he prefers to keep it silent and hates settling for much more. At times, where it may prove difficult for him to perform a specific dexterous task, he tries to make it discrete and is quick to turn attention elsewhere. Equally, his personal prowess has given him a slight extended trust from past superiors, and has also hidden away his actual self. Those who get close to him can pry out that kinder soul previously considerate of others. His trauma is still a fresh memory. The more favourable compatriot hasn't been fully lost, it just needs the kick back into gear. Other than that, he can be calculated and patient when required - to some that's all they need from him.
Role
Investigative Combat Specialist - NSF
Previous Employment
Kyoto Police - Honshu Special Investigation Agency (H.S.I.A)
Biography
Okinawa, the smallest of the five main Japanese islands, was the birthplace for young Takai; he was brought up within a reserved family, who made up a strict and disciplined collective. His bloodline reached held prominence during the imperial age of Japan's history, and as such it still retains some of its core values. Excellence, prosperity and wisdom are all achieved through service to the greater picture: home. National value was intrinsic, and pride in their bloodline was hammered in from a young age. His school life reflected this, where he was pushed to achieve only his best and nothing less at the cost of comfort and peace. Every week, he and his family would listen to stories told by Takai's own Grandfather and Great Grandfather, one speaking of their time within the Imperial Japanese Air Force. The other spoke of his time in the army during the Second World War. Both coming from officerhood, it seemed rather miraculous that both had survived, holding the contradictory belief of living to fight another day if the next day needed them more. Saipan, Okinawa and the Battle of Midway were commonly mentioned throughout their tales. Some of it may have been embellished, but it gave for a quiet and exciting childhood hobby.
Takai hadn't questioned their legitimacy at all, though it gave him the right to consolidate their perspectives as he aged. The thirst for knowledge drove him to perform well throughout his education, where he took enjoyment out of physics and mathematics. Fully, he loved deducing things. It was like a mini adventure, a walk in the footsteps of great geniuses until they changed everything in a precise prediction. Life continued quietly. The fascination gave him a quiet and lonesome childhood in which he occupied his time with reading and problem-solving. It was a faint reality that the love he held for finding answers led him on an absolute path. The fog covering that path was then brushed away in 2012 when the bomb fell.
The day was one of fear. The alarms all across Japan. The sirens and the calls to not panic. Thousands questioned what had happened, and then the sound of Tokyo's evaporation emerged as a thunderous clap in the sky. The emotional torment, the anger, the news coverage - all contributed to a new burning legacy. The dangerous path. His family, adamant to not see their nation torn apart by foreign powers, turned to fury. Takai's siblings were convinced into enlisting for military service. However, Takai himself was hesitant towards it. Whilst he was still young at the time, he wanted to uphold those values in a different manner. Through weeks of conversation, trying to convince them, they eventually settled on his ideas to join the emergency services - the police. And, with it settled, he glided through the rest of his years with above-average results until he was ready to leave and apply for the job.
He travelled to Kyoto and went through the motions of becoming an officer of the law. They were dire times, and with the expansion of a newer, brighter Tokyo on the horizon, Takai made it clear that he wanted to start in a favourable position. Life in Kyoto wasn't as bad as it could've been. The rise of technology gave run-ins with junkies and a few smugglers of electronic goods, but there wasn't too much in the way of chaos. Murders, gangs and the faintest trails of neocults and accelerationist groups slowly emerged, giving him a good three years of experience. On that third year, he garnered a reputation of stepping slightly out of his responsibilities, looking into a few criminal cases and making conclusions for formal reports. Failing to meet eye to eye with several of his officers, many of his working partners thought of joining a recently acclaimed Military Unit formed within the JSDF. Article 9 had been abolished, and out came the new wave of military interest surging throughout the nation. Many individuals were hopeful of the newfound rise to power the nation was suspected to go through, and yet Takai was adamant not to join up.
Instead, as the numbers in his policing precinct began to shrink, the overload of work began to bury Takai, ruining his social life once more and restricting him to long nights away from home. A previous lover of his, long term at the time, left his side due to the recent absurdity of his work hours, finding him to be only loyal to that of his duty.
Whilst not encouraged, it was praised long enough for a new organisation to pick up his trail. A combat investigation unit took his name to their registers: The Honshu Special Investigation Agency - or HSIA - was a governmental directed organisation based across Japan. Centralised into the newly erected NeoTokyo, the agency was spearheaded in combatting rising civil unrest amidst the expansion of the metropolis and the hard-to-ignore nationalistic outcry. At the time, under Prime Minister Abe Yoshihito, the weakness in the cabinet left them to fester wildly. Takai was given light augmentations to better suit his role. Thus, the headmounts for the PHUD were set in place.
His assignments were dusty, taking him across many of the city's darker corners. Human trafficking, early cultists and a violent gang war took him from strip-clubs to casino strips, workshops and the all-fearful exclusion zone. Particularly, the last location housed activity most unwelcomed. A congregation of Korean exiles, with undying wishes to Tae Jeong-Mun's legacy, were operating in the largely empty zones previously eviscerated by their icon's fire. This was the first taste of Takai's intense, and extensive, combat experience. Fifteen minutes of combat, just on the fringes of radioactive pockets, created a dire and deadly confrontation.
Shortly after, however, NeoTokyo and all of Japan was flipped on its heels. From within the JSDF, an expansive special operations group known as the Jinrai broke free of its command and attempted to coup out the newly elected Prime Minister, Konno Mashai. Though it failed, what followed were several days' worth of panic. The HSIA were in preparation to make moves into the situation but were held off by their commanders. At the end of the 5th day, all members of the HSIA were granted transfer to a newly formed National Security Force - the NSF.
Life in the NSF was a lot more rigorous. Takai underwent specialist training, was enlisted into a combat team and then registered as an investigations specialist. This was in 2029, at the outbreak of this shadow conflict. Back then, it wasn't much of a war. Many within the NSF considered it underground policing, and nothing more. At the time of his arrival, as one of the NSF's founding lower staff members, he was introduced to Iwata Honomi, who took him under her wing as a mentor figure, and a friend. Later on, a foreign recommendation from Iwata brought Kaz into the ranks, and the two began a lite friendship over the years. This all continued relatively peacefully, with dead-ended investigations and only the occasional combat raid taking place until mid-2030, where the Jinrai had finished reorganising itself. Their strikes were harsh and their operations on the weapons market grew exponentially. Takai found himself under a lot of pressure keeping up with the world around him. Its ever shifting dive into violence and chaos was a lot to adjust to, but he tried to maintain a smile on his face, even when Iwata dropped out after an Op gone wrong.
2031, August 29th. Iwata's monitoring after her discharge opened up an investigation when her name was crossed in Jinrai communications. In the lead up to another raid, Takai Shunsen was tasked with shaking down her household whilst she was due to leave her home. Kaz joined him, but the mission went downward soon after. Double-crossed by the ones who'd fed them intel, Iwata returned home with Jinrai personnel. A skirmish ensued and whilst in pursuit of Iwata, Takai injured her and cornered her in another building. Unaware of what she was doing, he faced retribution as she detonated an explosive, tearing up the building and critically wounding Takai as she perished.
He was uncovered with a missing forearm and leg, rushed to medical and was stabilised. Nine days later, he woke up under the administration of Doctor Miho Enri. What came next was a rushed rehabilitation programme. Three months of gruelling work, starting with cybernetic replacement, aimed to get him used to the replacements before the sensation of the lack thereof got there first. Physiotherapy constantly, self-care treatment and hours of calibration forced him back into a working manner at the cost of his personality and mental wellbeing. With November rolling around, it was soon time for him to return to service as a new man, with a new look, body and mental state.
Equipment
Field and On-Duty
Combat Unit of the NSF
Personal Heads Up Display, tailored to his face mounts.
5'11, pale skin, a single grim grey eye and a tight bun of bright blue hair. Walking into Caitlyn's office puts you face to face with a woman in her fourties who has absolutely no time for any shit you might be thinking about putting on her. Both of Caityln's lower legs have been replaced by custom made bionics and her well-toned form is marked with scars of previous fights, scores of shrapnel, slashes and shots indelibly marked into her skin.
Name Caitlyn Ellesworth. 'Miss. C' to underlings not on missions, 'Puma' when on missions. Calling her 'Cougar' is a fantastic way to earn her ire. Friends get to call her Cat.
Nationality American (Nationality.) White American/Slavic (Ethnically.)
Age 42.
Sexuality Pan.
Birth East Coast Sprawl, USA, 15th July 1989.
Appearance As previously mentioned, Caitlyn stands at around 5 foot 11 inches (180cm) making her slightly above average in her home of America and quite obviously above average admist her shorter Japanese colleagues. Her hair has been consistently dyed a deep blue since her early 20s, to the point where few remember her original hair colour is a light brown.
When on duty, Caitlyn wears a well-tailored black suit and a blue tie that matches her hair, the only sign of her doorkicking days the fact that she wears a set of military boots, the leather polished until it's so shiny you can see your reflection in it. Off-duty, she defaults to a set of semi-formal black jeans and simple long-and-short sleeved t-shirts depending on the weather, often defaulting to a jacket unless it's particularly warm. Usually however, her clothing covers up the most distinctive part of her- the fact that both of her legs have been replaced by cybernetic enhancements. Something of a cyberware purist, Caitlyn's legs are a distinctive shiny chrome, partially a design choice, and partially an intelligent ruse, because Caitlyn has another set of cybernetics far fewer peoople are aware of- her eyes.
Both of her eyes have been replaced by a complicated series of prosthetics, and over one she dons a strapless black eyepatch, made from an electroreceptive surface that has the property of allowing her cybernetic eye to see through it without any loss of visibility. Her remaning eye is almost entirely indistinguishable from a regular biological one, which is, of course, exactly what she wants.
Height 5'11/180cm
Personality Once, Caitlyn was quite the party girl. Or so her old colleagues say. Now she hasn't touched a bottle in more than a decade, anything that goes into her lungs that isn't air is vapourised and she seems to relish clocking in far more than clocking out. Fiercly intelligent when it comes to cybernetic systems, Caitlyn holds a PHD in Cybernetic Engineering, earned over more than thirteen years of work, most of which was on her own body parts. Having overcome limb loss, addiction and the death of more colleagues than she'd care to admit, she's often seen as icy and frigid, but the truth is she's simply much more careful about who she allows herself attachment to. What good is it becoming acquainted with a brand new agent when they could be lying on a cold slab in two weeks time?
Role Squad Operational Manager. Caitlyn's days as a direct field worker have mostly come to an end (although she's still a surprisngly mean shot with quick enough reactions to take on a man half her age and come out on top,) but she's not lost more than two decades of combat experience, and is happy to pass it on to those below her. Sitting in her office, looking through camera feeds or controlling arieal recon units, more than one assault team member owes their life to Caitlyn foiling an ambush.
Equipment
Weaponry & Armour
H&K SOCOM 24: A modernised variant of the SOCOM 23, the 24 is a semi-automatic large-frame pistol firing 14 .45 super rounds before needing a reload. A holdover from her FBI days, hers is quite clearly the USSOCOM variant, sporting a laser aiming module, surpressor and a red-dot sight. It's extremley rare that Caitlyn is ever seen without this gun strapped to her.
H&K SFP9-M: Despite being made in Germany, the gun has been standard issue in the Japanese army for 11 years. 20 9x19mm shots, held inside her intergrated leg holster. This is Caitlyn's 'backup' or 'holdout' weapon.
Dynatech Industries Hand Taser: A normal-looking pair of black driving gloves with a series of metal contact points located in the knuckles. When clenched into a fist, the glove is turned on, causing the contact points to crackle with 50,000 volts. Each glove can carry two charges before needing a recharge, the process of which takes three hours per glove charged. The weight of the electronics also makes for a reasonable knuckleduster in a pinch.
Lightweight Ballistic Vest: A simple, relatively thin and unnoticable kevlar vest most easily compared to a waistcoat rather than actual combat-ready armour. Although poor against knives and unlikely to stop heavier bullets from penetrating through, shotguns and lighter calibres will be halted, albeit with a tremendous amount of pain and blunt force imparted on Caitlyn in the process.
Augments
Custom-Made Cybernetic Leg Replacements. Caitlyn's thesis. Her pride and joys. Shockingly chrome, silk to the touch and tougher than titanium, her legs are built to last and can dish out no small amount of pain themselves. Resistant to fire, heat, cold, acid, bases, EMPs, piercing and slashing damage, blunt and concussive impacts and probably would be radiation-resistant if not for how redundant that would be. They also feature numerous concealed compartments, including a holster in the right calf, a small bug-out kit in her right thigh and a storage compartment in her left thigh. Finally, they have a set of pneumatic jacks capable of unleashing a devastaing amount of pressure to anything underneath them, easily capable of destroying conventional car engine blocks at a cost to the long-term structural integrity of her legs, her spine and any shoes she might be wearing.
Custom-Made Cybernetic Eye Replacements. Although not lavished over like Caitlyn's legs, her eyes have a few tricks to them as well. With the ability to switch into low-light and heat-sensitive vision modes, a 'dazzle guard' feature that automatically blacks out her vision to protect it from sudden bursts of light and will slowly adjust to brighter lights, a 30x zoom and a covert recording feature originally designed for undercover work, they're not to be underestimated.
Heart Monitor. Independent of her heart's functioning is this monitor. The usage of it should be obvious.
Artificial Hormone Regulator. An extraordinarily common implant, this allows Caitlyn to adjust the hormone balance in her body. Normally used in order to increase adrenaline before a fight, but has other usages too.
High-Density Bone Lattice: By 'weaving' together muscle and bone, both body parts benefit. Caitlyn's muscles are tougher, more tear-resistant and tire slower, whilst her bones are far less likely to break under most circumstances.
Previous Careers Caitlyn worked with the USA's FBI for longer than most of the people she's worked with have been in the Security Force. She knows the rules and she knows them well; although the country has changed, people haven't. Before her time in the intelligence services she worked, rather oddly, as a mechanic, which laid the groundwork for the mechanical knowledge she now uses for her cybernetics work.
Biography Caitlyn's early life was not an easy one. Born in the slums of the East Coast Sprawl, a megacity that stretched from New York to Washington DC, she grew up in a smoggy rat maze of poverty and crime. Her father worked as a car mechanic, although in the slums he was often more of a car scrapper, whilst her mother made money through odd jobs- maidwork here, food delivery there, and even a few times unsteady office work in call centres or as a secretary. When she was a child, Caitlyn often suffered from severe asthma attacks thanks to the air pollution, and with parents too poor to be able to afford inhalers and medicine she would have to suffer through these, sipping in air and desperately trying not to succumb to panic.
The family's poor fortunes took an unexpected change however when her father's vocation adjusted slightly. Rather than breaking down parts, he was approached by one of the sprawl's many gangs who thought his skills could be useful to them; chop shopping and frankenstining damaged cars together. Although not the most ethical way of making money it certainly managed to pay the bills, and when Caitlyn was old enough, put some spending money in her pockets too. When she was seventeen however, things changed, two well-dressed gentlemen approaching her and informing her that they knew of her father's secrets, and unless she became an informant they'd come down on her father like a sledgehammer.
Reluctantly, she was inducted into the FBI as little more than a humble snitch. Terrified that her secret would be discovered or that she'd fail and her father would be imprisoned, she walked a thin line with surprising grace, until, two years later, the operation came to an end and she was offered a choice- enter witness protection, or become an FBI enforcer. Tired of being powerless, she chose the second option, 'imprisoned' as part of the sting's ending and being taken to a Bureau training facility where she learnt the rules of this new world.
As an active agent, Caitlyn was on the frontlines of raids across the sprawl, and the threats to her life were numerous. Eventually, one caught up to her. A breach gone wrong resulted in both of her legs being blown off, the tatters of her thighs so bad that they had to be amputated in order to allow for her implants to be put in. Whilst she recovered she took the time to apply her previous mechanical knowledge to this new part of her biology, studying for a degree in Cybernetic Engineering at FBI educational instutitions. Returning to active duty and undercover work would see Caitlyn turning to alcohol as a way of self-medicating the numerous psychological problems she had picked up thanks to her work. After one undercover operation went bad and her cover was blown, she returned to the agency's fold with a new individual- another criminal-turned agent who she would fall into a relationship with.
Slowly climbing through the ranks (and seeing her boyfriend dispatched to a decades long undercover operation) she would emerge at age 35 significantly changed woman. Proper therapy and medication had seen her leave behind alcohol to deal with her problems, and she had gone from a field agent into a departmental director, responsible for the administrative overview of cybernetic crime units across the sprawl. Here she remained for six years, until in 2030 she was reccomended to be sent abroad to Japan, where the NSF had been offered a small number of veteran agents. Although having technically received a fairly major demotion her pay hasn't seen an equivalent cut, leaving her in an odd position of frustrated at the xenophobic NSF structure whilst also content that her skills are still being used.
Affiliations Most of Caitlyn's old friends have been left behind in America, and her mother and father have been dead for more than twenty years.
Relationships [Optional] This is how they view other characters throughout the story. This could be updated as major changes in their connections and view of one another is expanded upon. Most changes can be listed from experiences out of combat, but some can occur from within their combat positioning out in the field. This can cover rivals, those they hate, romantic interests, friends, or simply acquaintances and work-colleagues if you want.
Appearance For somebody who's largely Japanese by genetics, noted by her usual skin tone and dark brown eye colour, Yukako looks very foreign indeed, or perhaps like somebody who never left their delinquent phase. She tans readily, has lengthy and naturally platinum blonde hair, and most notably has a figure that wouldn't look out of place in certain types of modern Japanese media; she is also tall, and courtesy of her background in the police force quite fit indeed, with lean musculature only further enhancing her physique.
Her usual outfit when out of the field tends to be a combination of shirt and skirt, occasionally wearing trousers instead of a skirt if formality is a requirement, in a variety of patterns that may or may not work together or clash horrendously, as well as various black heels usually accompanied by white socks to prevent chafing. In uniform is another story: she typically opts for one of the basic Assault outfits, consisting of a blue fabric bodysuit covering her entire frame, black kevlar protecting her torso and groin with storage for ammo and grenades, and a full optics mask hiding her face.
Height 6' flat.
Personality Yukako is on the autistic spectrum, a relatively high-functioning example. This colours a lot of her personality both on and off duty, but primarily as a poor understanding of social norms and facial expressions that can make her look unempathetic or impolite. Granted, understanding exactly why certain social matters are so important can be hard for her, in particular with the stringent demands Japan often makes in that regard, but she is nothing but empathic, perhaps overly so, once she recognises how somebody is feeling; indeed, trying to sort out how people feel consistently does lead to a degree of anxiety about it all. By default, however, she presents as highly energetic and friendly to the majority of people, often talking rapidly and to great length when describing a topic or situation, and may well flirt with them egregiously depending on circumstance, most commonly when smalltalk has taken over and she is struggling to find anything meaningful to say.
This energy transfers over to her approach to a fight. In some sense, she is professional, and certainly trained for combat scenarios, but she tends toward a great deal of movement and intense laughter in a firefight, often showing a reckless attitude as she travels toward the foe. Funnily enough, this is not out of pure lunacy: her tolerance for sensory overload is significantly lower than that of a neurotypical person, and she tries to keep moving in battle specifically to keep herself from freezing up and becoming a sitting duck.
Role Assault
Equipment ASSAULT-01 Armour - One of three standard NSF Assault-grade suits. Bullet-resistant kevlar provides moderate protection to the center of mass, leaving the limbs free to move and remaining light enough that sprinting for a brief time is viable. Also bears utility boxes to contain ammunition clips, grenades, and other relatively small items. Built-in camouflaging systems allow the user to refract visible light around them for just under ten seconds, with recent advances in thermoptic technology adding infrared radiation to this spectrum to avoid detection by thermal vision; this will recharge greadually when not in use.
Motionvision Visor 01 - A visor with advanced motion detection technology implanted throughout. At a moment's notice, the user can switch between standard visuals and motionvision, showing the world in a faint reddish-yellow tinge and displaying any and all movement as a bright yellowish burst even if a target is camouflaged from visible light, though it cannot detect motion through dense clouds such as from a smoke grenade. As a bonus, the ASSAULT-01 model covers the full face, blocking identity, and allowing the user to draw from a small internal oxygen supply in case of a gas attack.
Directed Energy Weapon Prototype - A rather large custom weapon of Yukako's design, comparable in size (though not in recoil) to a handheld Minigun or LMG, much of which is the large battery pack powering it. The rest is a combination of LASER emitters at the "barrel" end, and a switch and dial just above the cell to toggle between electrolaser and PEP modes, and determine the degree of incapacitation or lethality desired. The battery pack uses similar technology to the NSF's thermoptic camouflage to recharge over time, but takes much longer comparatively due to the greater stored charge.
HRV ZX68S Assault Rifle - Relatively standard secondary weapon with suppressed muzzle flash. Well-rounded for distance, accuracy, and stopping power, and capable in most circumstances. Thirty-plus-one round Stanag magazine, 7.62x51mm projectiles.
JH Industries Tachi Pistol - Basic Assault sidearm, custom-tooled for NSF use. Fifteen rounds, .40 ACP projectiles, with a toggle between single shot and automatic to perform a "mag-dump" when needed.
Frag grenades - Standard issue fragmentation explosives. Pull the pin, throw the explosive such that the lever comes away, do not move in range of flying shrapnel. Easy enough, and sufficiently powerful to kill even heavily-armoured targets in close proximity to ground zero.
Combat knife - Last resort weapon. Relatively poor in the situations faced by the NSF, but can potentially instakill if a stab to the right place is made.
Previous Careers Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (Tokyo Keishi-chō, 東京 警視庁) - Police Sergeant (Junsa-buchō, 巡査部長) Kyoto Prefectural Police Department (Kyōto Fu-keisatsu, 京都 府警察) - Senior Police Officer (Junsa-chō, 巡査長)
Biography Yukako's childhood was, one could say, eventful. For starters, her young self had clear difficulties in fully comprehending the basic behaviours taught in childhood in her home country, and her parents often took her to be slow or a trouble maker rather than cottoning to the actual issue. Then, of course, her family moved from Japan to southern France after the nuclear attack on Tokyo - they lived in Kyōto at the time, but her parents decided it would be best to avoid any possible additional attacks. She was only four or five at the time.
Adapting to the new environment was quite tough on Yukako. Aside from anything else, the behavioural standards set at her new school were vastly different to those her parents set for behaviour, and much different to those of her preschool in Japan; suffice to say, language barriers in both French and English made learning quite difficult in kind, and in the end it was specialised tutoring that gave her both a leg up to the necessary educational standards, and an insight into the idea that she had something happening in her brain that warranted investigation. A couple of testing sessions later confirmed a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder; whilst it was hard for her parents to adapt and account for Yukako's condition, emphasis was placed on the fact that doing so would make things a lot easier for both her and them, and it is likely that this change led Yukako to be much closer with her parents in the years since.
Even still, friends were hard to come by for her. She managed to form a very strong bond with another girl in CM2, only to be separated from her when they went to different middle schools, a fact that still stings whenever it arises for her; collège, ultimately, was a somewhat lonely affair in its first two years, supplemented by quite a bit of exercise, but began to look up when Yukako began to express herself more outwardly. People began to look to her as... a friend? An acquaintance? An idol? She wasn't sure, but despite her oddities, and perhaps because her tendency toward athleticism made her seem more interesting, she suddenly stuck out as one of the cool kids, a fact that continued into high school and ultimately propelling her to her baccalauréat at the age of 17, with specialities in languages and engineering sciences - foreign languages, ultimately, were something that she was naturally adept in by then, but she'd found herself quite fascinated with optics too, lasers and the like, and was considering even taking a tertiary education course in.
At which stage, her parents threw her a fresh curveball by announcing that they were moving back to Japan. Why? They wanted her to receive higher education in her home country. Did she get a choice? Not really, no. Thus she was moved back into a nation whose social norms she still didn't fully comprehend even after drilling on them by her parents, now with an additional barrier of looking rather foreign to boot. Suffice to say, her enrolement and education in Kyoto University was a somewhat difficult affair, and a mouth that had already learned to speak fast reinforced the habit there as stress and anxiety ramped up to terrible levels. Even so, she got in on her first try; she endured great amounts of discrimination for her sex, appearance, and autistic traits, nullified in part by her intentionally dressing and speaking as a delinquent to throw people off and, occasionally, awkwardly flirting and sleeping with people who would otherwise have been bullies; and in the end, she hit 21 having acquired a very solid degree in engineering and cemented her interest in optical technologies.
But, funnily enough, her physicality remained ever-present as something of importance. When word came of Jinrai's attempted coup, she decided she couldn't just let it go to waste. She felt, rather, that she had a duty not to allow that, and even that she should take up work to keep herself and Japan in good standing - even though her degree would have inclined her to potentially much more immediately prestigious scientific work, her profession and hobby ultimately swapped places, and she signed on to the Kyoto Prefectural Police Department as a police officer, and after a year or so a senior police officer.
The men there hated her. The women found her strange. She did wonder if she'd made a mistake at points, but reassured herself time and again that she was helping people, keeping them safe! Until she was reassigned as a sergeant in Tokyo, of all places, at the start of 2031. Quite suddenly, the only people she had consistent connections to were more or less cut off from her, as she was moved to a technically more prestigious academy, but with even fewer support mechanisms. To keep herself sane, she began putting her technological knowledge to use in her downtime, by designing a blueprint for a directed energy weapon with multiple purposes. Electrolasers could be done, it was just a matter of finding a strong enough power source!
Then came September. She and her squad were informed of a firefight occurring in the Kanagawa Ward area, and pursued the affair fully armed and ready to deal with, in theory, anything. What they weren't ready for was the conflict to be between the pseudo-governmental terrorist group trying to claim the country's rulership, and what amounted to the government's secret special forces. Most of the squad survived the raid, largely thanks to Yukako's firm instruction and at least two moments where she shot down a foe who had trained their sights on her team, plus a third where she did the same for somebody from the NSF. This, however, only led to their being brought into custody as the government tried to figure out who they were with and how much they knew.
To the government's credit, the others were eventually released back to the public, with a signed NDA and a very clear understanding on their relevant superiors' part that they weren't talk about what they'd witnessed. As for Yukako... her skill intrigued them. For somebody who'd only been with the police for a few years, she was shockingly capable, and when it transpired what she'd been working on in her spare time too, a decision was made by somebody somewhere. She'd be trained up; she'd be incorporated into the NSF as a new agent; and, with testing allowed of course, a weapon that was basically functional in theory and just needed a more efficient battery in practice could be built for her to wield on the field. Their recent advances in thermoptic camouflage and its recharging would prove to be the ironic final piece of that lattermost puzzle: the battery could recharge on its own merits.
Come November, Yukako would officially join the NSF's ranks as a Class C Operator, with multiple extra languages and some input into the mechanical side of matters to boot. She was quite excited for her new job, suffice to say.
Affiliations Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and Kyoto Prefectural Police Department - Former places of work, source of much field training. Tanaka Hideyoshi and Akane (多仲 秀吉, 多仲 (茜) - Father and mother. Currently living in Kyoto, but moved to southern France with Yukako for over a decade after the 2012 bomb dropped. Yukako's foreign ancestry stems from her father, whose own grandfather was a soldier from another nation, possibly Germany.
Relationships [Optional] None specific yet - Yukako really is quite new to the NSF, and so hasn't gotten more than a bare-bones impression of anybody else in its ranks.
Takai Shunsen - Didn't meet him yet. Hearsay suggests that he was recently maimed in another raid. Kazankova Bykov - Strong, so you'd think a good workout buddy. Kind of hostile, though. Takeda Ochisuita - The boss' boss' boss. He's pretty okay. Hard, but not a dick. Caitlyn Ellesworth - The boss. She seems to know her stuff. Kind of distant, unfortunately. Takeuchi Yukiko - Kind of boring? Doesn't stick out a bunch. Yamamoto Mikasa - She makes a lot of sense. Dark sense of humour, is all. Hattori Naomi - Not super sure what to make of her. A bit distant, maybe. Li Dàiyù - Pretty cool. Kind of a badass, maybe? Not sure. Itsuki Itou - Don't have to be so formal with him. What a relief.
Still WIP but it's already something! lol Wasn't able to finish today, still need to work on the equipment (mainly weapon/sidearm including it's names lol. Thinking on a suppressed rifle with subsonic ammo)
Nationality Japanese
Age 32
Sexuality Heterosexual
Birth April 15th, Tokyo.
Appearance
Itsuki's appearance is normally very laid-back and relaxed as it is evident by his messy, swept-back hairstyle. Often preferring to wear comfortable, light and practical clothes. Needless to say, he avoids wearing formal clothes as much as it's humanly possible (even though people say he actually looks very good on them).
When on duty, Itsuki's choice for gear is quite 'unique' and can be considered weird if one isn't aware of the special equipment he carries with himself or his role. Wearing no PHUD, he keeps electronic equipment to a bare minimum, other than a small radio and a compact night vision goggles, he carries with him, other than essential equipment, there is a small compartment on the back of his suit, the size of a small backpack, where he carries a powerful portable jamming device.
Ironically enough, hiding behind his laid-back appearance, Itsuki has a strong and flexible body, result of a rigorous training routine. Having no cybernetic augment or parts, Itsuki trains his body and mind in order to be always in perfect balance between endurance, speed, strength and flexibility. While part of the reason for such an laid-back and relaxed person as Itsuki to train himself exhaustively is due to his job, he also does so because he believes that, despite the technological advancements, people tend to rely too much on augments and cybernetic implants instead of their own hard work. A way of thinking Itsuki inherited from his father.
Height 6'0"/ 1,83cm
Personality Off duty, Itsuki is the furthest one would imagine from an elite agent, especially someone of his skills. Relaxed, lazy and laid-back, his conduct is considered highly unprofessional. Disinterested and carefree, he rarely takes anything seriously. He is often found lazing around, laying down somewhere, reading, playing games or just doing anything as long as it doesn't require him doing any actual work. The only exception to that rule is his normal training routine every morning. Those who see him training often say that he is the only person in the world that is somehow capable to make even working out look like he's just lazing around.
When on duty, surprisingly enough, Itsuki's personality doesn't change much until the very moment he is deployed on field when he almost becomes a completely different person. Serious, quiet and professional, his normally disinterested eyes are gone, replaced by sharp and dangerous eyes of a person who rarely lets even details pass by unnoticed. Often keeping radio contact to a bare minimum, he shows a remarkable capacity of improvising and using his own judgement to complete his mission, despite the lack of orders or directions, a necessary trait for someone that often not only works solo, but without being able to contact his team via radio.
Role Infiltration/Sabotage/Reconnaissance
Equipment
NSF-R "Blackout": A modified version of the original NSF Recon armor. Made of resistant, lightweight and flexible material with thermal camouflage and resistant against detection methods such as movement sensors and heartbeat sensors, it has little actual armor, instead focusing solely on mobility and stealth. Unlike the normal Recon armor, it has a simplistic and very purist design, having no cybernetics on the armor itself and almost no electronic devices other than night vision goggles and a small radio. On it's back, there is a small compartment, the size of a small backpack that houses a powerful, portable jamming system. Being able to interfere with most electronic devices and cause heavy interference on most cybernetic implants or augments. Just like the suit's name implies, it can create an area of almost complete 'Blackout' in a maximum range of 120m or 100m with obstructions. This area of heavy interference can also be controlled, with the operator being able to reduce it's size by implements of 10m to a minimum of a sphere of 10m around the operator or straight up turned off. It can stay active to a maximum of 1h before the battery runs out.
A modern take on the classic, tried and tested VSS Vintorez, the VSS-3000 fires a heavy subsonic 9x39mm projectile containing a massive hardened steel core. With an effective range of about 450m, due to it's special bullet, it has a high penetration and stopping power. Coupled with it's integrated suppressor, it eliminates almost completely both sound and muzzle flash. With the choice of a magazine with 10 or 20 rounds, this rifle can also be used in fully automatic mode should the operational need arise. The hybrid scope offers magnification from 2x to 5x, being able to be used together with Itsuki's night vision goggles.
A modernization of the historical Welrod, this subsonic pistol received some well needed upgrades from it's MK2 counterpart of which the most striking is the fact that it is now a semi-automatic pistol. With 10 9x19mm subsonic rounds per magazine, it has an effective range of around 40m. It might be a simple and very basic pistol, but it's integrated suppressor coupled with the subsonic rounds makes it the perfect sidearm if your concern is being silent.
Previous Careers
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, before he was recruited and accepted as part of the Special Assault Teams (officially known as Tokushu Butai or Special Unit.
Biography Born and raised in Tokyo, child of a police chief inspector in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, Itsuki's childhood was rather common, being even a bit better than most due to his family's above-average financial status, result of an inheritance left by his grandparents and the small but flourishing business his mother had. Studying in a good school and having good grades, it seemed like Itsuki had his entire future ahead of him and with good grades like his, it wouldn't be just a dream to be accepted in a good university. Unfortunately, it all would change on the year of 2012, the year he lost everything...
Having lost both of his parents in the bombing of 2012, along with his home, part of his city and almost everything he knew, Itsuki was left alone in the world, having only the inheritance money from his grandparent's inheritance and the little money that was left of his mother's now ruined business. Without anyone to turn to and completely alone, Itsuki would have fallen into despair if it wasn't for a close friend of his father in the police who was also his superior, the superintendent Daichi. Knowing his father and his mother well, Daichi offered his support to the young Itsuki, taking him under his care. Moved by the stories Daichi told about his own father and how Daichi himself took care of him, Itsuki was able to overcome the shock of losing his parents and the grief by having a new goal for his life. Inspired by two great figures of his life, Itsuki began training his body and aiming to be a police officer, just like his father and Daichi as well.
Due to his enthusiasm, talent and under Daichi's instruction, as he got older Itsuki was quickly accepted to the police academy, completing it a few years later on the top of it's class. The entire world and especially Tokyo, were going through big changes on the years after the incident of 2012. Technology advanced on a frighteningly quick pace and the political turmoil, coupled with the fact that people's minds haven't forgotten the terror of the bomb meant that it was more necessary than ever for someone to keep the order and peace in Tokyo.
On duty, Itsuki's performance was nothing short of outstanding. Displaying not only physical skills that far outclassed most other police officers but the mental fortitude necessary to deal with any situation, the only fault was the fact that he often dug too much when facing cases that were either too big for the police alone and due to his exaggerated sense of justice. Unsurprisingly to all those who were working with him, a few years after he began working for the police, Itsuki was recruited to the Tokushu Butai, the Special Unit. There, he would further hone his skills in an environment more suited to how he operated. Unfortunately, having greater access to information caused Itsuki to stumble in some... suspicious incidents around the city which, due to his strong sense of justice, he refused to let go and began investigating...
As he continued investigating, these incidents that were apparently isolated from one another showed themselves to be linked by some very small details, such as a single bullet lodged into a water pipe, a shell casing that was left behind with no discernible mark and impossible to track down... The more he dug and investigated on his own, the stranger and deeper the situation got. Isolated cases of people suddenly disappearing or strange 'accidents' labeled as gas explosions and other convenient excuses. Eventually, Itsuki was approached by his superiors, who explicitly ordered him to stop investigating. Upon questioning, he was only informed that the orders came from way above and he should simply turn a blind eye to what he saw.
That incident, those words he heard from the very people who should be protecting Tokyo changed his view of the world. The young delusions that he would work for the justice and correct the wrongdoings that happened were shattered as he was forced to turn a blind eye. Details and hints that he would once never have paid attention before he began investigating or when he was still working for the police were impossible to avoid now. Undeniable proof that corruption was simply impossible to get rid of and peace was nothing but a foolish dream...
Asking for a temporary leave due to stress and ordered to make regular visits to a psychiatrist from the government after the evaluation, it didn't take much for Itsuki to get over what happened. Due to his previous experience with what happened in 2012, he was able to move on pretty quickly, although when he came back to the Tokushu Butai, he was a completely different man. With an ever present disinterest over everything and a lazy, unprofessional behavior when not on field, he was considered quite problematic, but his performance, always completing his assignments with an incredible efficiency saved him from being suspended and kept his work.
Surprisingly enough, it was exactly this mix of problematic behavior and absolute efficiency when on duty that attracted the NSF, resulting in Itsuki being recruited shortly after. Much to their surprise though, the recruitment offer was met by Itsuki with extreme disinterest, having accepted the offer only due to the benefits that it would bring him such as the pay, better installations, equipment and the capability to further hone his skills.
Affiliations Both his parents died in 2012's incident. Most of his contacts are from the Special Unit in Tokyo or the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. Thinks of Superintendent Daichi as his second father.
Name Li Dàiyù (Goes by Dai to make it easier on people)
Nationality Cantonese by birth, Nationalized Japanese
Age 38
Sexuality
Birth February 15, 1993 Kowloon, British Hong Kong
Appearance Dàiyù prides herself on her looks when not in the field, taking great care to look presentable at all times. Her hair is kept in place by ornamental combs and pins to keep it from hiding her face, wearing designer dresses and sunglasses that cost more than some people's cars. Her sleeves are almost always short and her legs are often exposed to show off the intricate bioluminescent tattoos running across her body. For special occasions where some quaint show of deference to her host country is needed she'll switch to the collection of elegant silk kimonos she has in her closet. She makes no effort to disguise her robotic arm, happy to recount the story of how a stubborn horse fell on it's side with her under it.
Her guise as the Fox is equally striking albeit a little dramatic. The lights on her mask can be switched on and off so that she can make dramatic entrances and her armor just as flamboyant as it is practical. The overcomplicated look suits her flair for dramatic in a way that her other careers simply can't.
While Dai's bionic arm and glowing tattoos are well known deviations from the norm they aren't her only body modifications. Her right pinky is a cybernetic replica of her old one and her back is decorated with traditional irezumi. For purposes of confidentiality these are kept hidden from the world.
Height 5'8"
Personality Dai wears many masks, some figurative and some literal. In public she's a model immigrant who assimilated into society and became a success story, appearing at charity galas and high profile events throw by her friends in the upper echelon of society. She loves her adopted country dearly and has dedicated her life to defending it, donating millions of yen, four years of her life in the JSDF and now time in the NSF. Kind to her friends and diplomatic with her enemies Daiyu is hardworking and dependable.
To her Yakuza associates she's a solid earner and professional fixer who speaks plainly and does as ordered with cold efficiency. Taking part in a number of the Yamaguchi-gumi's illicit activities Dai can be relied on to fix problems with bribery, blackmail or bullets as the situation dictates. Certain certain superiors can call upon her services as the Fox when something needs to be handled. Calculating and ruthless in the extreme Dàiyù is considered useful to the organization as a whole thanks to the money she brings in and the work she performs.
The truth lies somewhere between the two identities she's concocted for herself. "Little" Li as her parents call her in their infrequent conversations is more or less glad to be in Japan but not particularly hawkish about it and while she's certainly willing to do bad things she isn't devoid of compassion. Dai is driven by not by patriotism or obligation to a group but by a constant need for excitement. Mingling with the ultra wealthy, climbing into penthouses or slinking through NeoTokyo's underbelly in search of a target and shooting bad guys as part of a secret elite task force all get her heart racing in that way that makes life worth living. Dàiyù lives a triple life because if she didn't she'd be bored. No grand vendetta or anything dramatic, just a need to feel her heart pumping.
Which it does irregularly thanks to the amount of drugs she's on. Amphetamines to keep her awake for days on end, benzodiazepines to finally put her to sleep, prescription painkillers to fight off the constant aches she suffers from her nighttime activities, Li is the definition of a functional addict.
A lifetime of 70 hour workweeks and nights spent prowling around in search of easy marks has given her a lopsided skillset. She can climb buildings and negotiate high powered financial deals but can't cook anything more complicated than boiled eggs and is much more at home with a rifle in her hand than a paintbrush. Her basic life skills have lapsed to the point that if she didn't set reminders she would forget to eat.
None of this makes it to the outside world. The juggling of three disparate and often contradictory careers requires her to be in total control of what she presents to the world at any given time and there's no advantage in letting any of her coworkers see her as anything less than unbreakable.
A con artist and thief before she was a hired blade Daiyu puts a premium on politeness, never forgetting a name, face or son's birthday. She has a Rolodex of minor underworld figures local and otherwise, businessmen, celebrities, all manner of people's she worked for, with and against. You never know when that cop who you slide a few thousand yen for a deposit on a home to can be convinced to report a suspect as having escaped, or when you can get an invite to a very exclusive fundraising party from a certain high rolling up and coming politician who really doesn't want some of his indiscretions coming to light. Daiyu excels at these sort of games, enjoying the give and take atmosphere of the web of lies and owed favors that connected high society with the low.
One of the only topics that gets her genuinely animated is art. She can talk for hours about the Renaissance masters or the sculptures of ancient Greece and the pop art movement of the mid 1950s or really any major era of artwork. She fancies herself a bit of collector, having a few minor pieces on display as well as quite a bit more that were never officially sold, or even sold at all.
Role Sniper/Designated Marksman
Equipment
Bionic Arm: A replacement for the flesh and blood limb that she lost. It's main advantages are that it's much more durable, feels no fatigue and has an empty space inside of it where Dai can store small objects. Usually that space is occupied by a short barrel that can variety of darts, from standard steel flechettes to posioned bolts to small stun rounds
WallCrawl Fingertips: Popular with freeclimbers who have too much money, both sets of fingers have had small plates inserted under the skin that can generate a powerful electroadhesive field. The field is powered by the body's natural electricity and can penetrate thick gloves, perfect for someone who doesn't like leaving finger prints.
Reflex Enhancements: Exactly what they sound like. Thanks to a series of implants connected to her spine and skull Dai can process information faster than an unaugmented person. Useful for knowing when to duck.
Visual Enhancements: Being a technical billionaire has it perks, one of which is getting access to the best surgeons and cybernetics experts. Dai's eyes have received a range of upgrades, here eyes coming equipped with x50 zoom and 20/5 vision. When exposed to a flash of bright light the eyes automatically dim their vision as a protective measure.
M40 EMR: Simple, no frills semi-automatic action that gets the job done. Dàiyù's weapon from her JSDF days and the one assigned to her by the NSF. An update of a design nearly 70 years old the M40 can still put rounds on a target 1,000 yards out all day no problem. CheyTac Arbitration: High powered, high priced anti-material rifle that Dai paid for out of pocket and uses whenever she has a slightly reasonable excuse. Equipped with a laser rangefinder, advanced ballistics computer and meteorological sensors the Arbitration also has changeable barrels for switching between .50 BMG and the slightly less ridiculous .408 Cheyenne Tactical round. Not usually reasonable for law enforcement but when you're fighting highly trained and heavily armed terrorists anything goes. Halifax 7:Customizable and solid, there's little Dai can really say about it. It shoots fine and has real flaws so it's good enough as a backup.
NSF Recon Armor:Standard issue recon gear, light enough to move in and strong enough to keep its wearer alive. Probably.
Lockbreakers: For mechanical and electronic. Handheld Plasma Cutter: For when the lockbreakers aren't good enough. "Work" Laptop: Kept away from her other devices in a case that acts as a Faraday cage, full of all sorts of sensitive information. Yakuza accounts, blackmail on various figures of note, Dai's journal, all stuff she doesn't want getting out. The whole device can be remotely bricked via a chip concealed in her boot. Pocket Chainsaw Usually wrapped around her metal wrist until needed. Scanner:Vital for someone who does a lot of breaking and entering, this little device can pick up radiofrequency waves of all kinds. Comes with built in black light and camera. Razor Blades: Kept in the lining of her jacket.
Foxclaw: An old carbine some two bit thug stuck a bunch of crap on. Dai picked it up when clearing out the man's apartment and now keeps it around for use on jobs. X-1 Smart Pistol: A rather expensive investment but worth it for the high tech suppressor and ammo counter built into the thing. "Dongbin" Pattern Jian: An elegant weapon for a more civilized age. This ancient designed has been updated for the modern age with a carbon steel vibroblade capable of dealing with modern armors. Eccentric yes, but no less dangerous.
Previous Careers -JDSF 1st Division and Special Forces Group -Founder, President and CEO of NeoTokyo Brokerage (Technically still in charge but does little of the day to day management) -Member of the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate (Still very active in this role. still very secretive about it)
Biography Dàiyù was born in Kowloon City to Wei and Chen Li, a new addition to a household that was barely making ends meet as it was. Her father Wei was a night security guard and her mother Li worked as a janitor for the cramped tenement they lived in. Two minimum wages jobs had hardly been enough to feed them and Wei's aging father, the introduction of another people was nearly catastrophic. Dàiyù earliest years were spent listening to her parents argue about money while Grandpa Min held her. By the time she was five the situation had gotten so dire that the family emigrated to Japan, settling into the Adachi district of Tokyo. The daughter managed to pick up Japanese pretty quickly but had a heavy accent for much of her childhood, marking her as a foreigner. She got into fights often, throwing punches at any kid who mocked her accent or place of birth no matter how much bigger or older they where. After the third black eye before her seventh birthday her Grandfather made her an offer: if she kept her grades up he'd teach her the arts of Taijin sword-fighting and Wing Chun kung fu.
Dàiyù of course agreed but found that she had actually enrolled herself in an extended lesson on remaining calm. Any time she lost control or put more focus on brute force than technique the lessons would stop and she'd be sent to her room to read in silence. As her skill increased so did her patience, Daiyu internalizing the importance of staying level-headed in any situation. She also began to branch out, making more friends at school and taking an interest in other martial arts, especially western boxing and jiu-jitsu. Whenever she was in class she was paying closer attention to other students than the lesson, picking up on any important gossip she could.
It was sheer luck that the Li family wan't reduced to ash by the nuclear fire that consumed half of Tokyo. They had returned back to Hong Kong to visit with family for Daiyu's twelfth birthday the day before the bomb was dropped, crowded around a tiny TV set in an aunt's living room as the reports came in. Their home was one of the many that were completely destroyed. It took months for them to be allowed back in, Daiyu staring wide eyed at ruin.
The slums that bordered the bombed out districts were the perfect place to go exploring, Dàiyù picking through abandoned homes for valuables and putting on impromptu demonstrations of her skills for the others kids that were hanging around. Her standing challenge to any kid that wanted to test themselves against what she had learned was taken up by the leader of a small group of street toughs who sent his biggest friend to knock her down a peg. It cost her a few nasty cuts but Daiyu prevailed and was brought in as one of the "boys", so to speak. She quickly got used to it, learning to pick pockets and serving as a lookout while her gang raided unattended cars and slipped through open windows. One of her favorite jobs was when she got to play the lost little girl or the desperate hitchhiker, getting people to open their hearts and their wallets with a few tears. As they got older the gang moved into smuggling cigarettes and bootleg electronics, even occasionally dealing in narcotics. For a bunch of sixteen year olds the money was great, but they were also way in over their heads. The gang was found out by a local underboss of the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate and told to join up or die.
Understandably they decided to join up. Dàiyù talent for creeping around the slums translated into a natural affinity for cat burglary,climbing up to second and third story fire escapes and slipping in in search of jewelry or loose cash. One of her gangs duties was to work at a mechanic's garage that served as a money laundering front, mostly there to look busy and keep people from asking too many questions. Daiyu would hang around the back when she could, listening with interest as smugglers and enforcers talked about business. Every time she turned up she was shooed away until the man running the store, Aito, took an interest in her. The young Chinese immigrant was taken under his wing, Aito showing her how to handle money and deal in the world of legitimate business. From the office overlooking the garage Dàiyù began to work longer and more profitable cons, squeezing desperate people with exorbitant loans and defrauding clueless tourists with bogus theft insurance. All the while she was continuing to steal, gradually becoming more respected in the eyes of the Yakuza. She had yet to be inducted in properly but she was appreciated for the steady income she brought in from her cons and heists, as well as her kowtowing to local customs.
And that would have been enough for her to stay in a stable position as a tolerated and maybe even accepted outsider if everything had gone right. But it was not to be. As her heists got more elaborate and her reputation grew more people wanted in on the action, her already small cut being encroached on by the sons of proper members of the family. She was forced to scramble and try and cope with untrained and unskilled brutes on jobs that required a light touch. Predictably one of them screwed up. A routine burglary of a high end apartment went wrong and her partner was killed and her left arm shattered into uselessness when their get-away vehicle was hit by a van. She was carried out of the wreck and sent to a private doctor who had experience with patients who needed extra discretion.
As soon as she woke up Dàiyù was on trial. The money invested in planning had all gone to waste and the son of a mid level Yakuza soldier was dead on her watch. She had been allowed to stick around as long as she had been making money but their patience had run out. Dàiyù was surrounded by eight hard faced men who were ready to kill her and dump her corpse into the harbor without a second thought, with no way out. So she did the only thing she could.
She began to talk.
The botched heist had been the exception, not the rule. For years now she had been a faithful source of income, regular payments from her various scams supplemented by healthy bonuses from heists. Surely it would be a waste to throw that all away. Why not let her live so she could keep working for them? She be giving them a much larger cut of course, as penance. It was a long shot and she knew it, but luckily they agreed. She was under the thumb of the Yakuza now. They would be taking most of any money she made, as well as something else. Daiyu managed to convince herself to be grateful that their was disinfectant on hand when they made her amputate her own remaining pinky finger.
She was twenty one years old and needed to start earning money. She managed to plead with Aito for a loan and opened up a brokerage firm, learning the ins and outs of the stock market as she went. With a competent team of investors hired the firm was turning a decent profit by itself, but more than that it was an opportunity. It provided a way for her to launder the money coming in from the odd jobs and crimes of opportunity she was doing, and she could charge a fee to keep other people's money safe as well. The dirty money she brought in allowed her to hire more experts and move to a nicer building in recently built Neo-Tokyo, attracting more clients with more clean cash so she could wash more dirty money and use those fees to attract more...
It was a tenuous potion sustained by spending dangerous men's money on risky gambles to keep the Yakuza off her back while hoping the whole cyclical system didn't collapse like a house of cards. It was stressful, nerve-wracking, infuriating to see millions of yen that should have been hers go into someone else's pockets. And she loved every moment of it. There was a thrill to having to keep up a presentable exterior for the outside world while fielding inquiries and demands from the scum of society, a certain knack needed to keeping the whole ship from sinking. By the time she was 24 she had managed to get it to a point where it could stand on its own. More than that, she was part of high society. Wealthy celebrities and industry leaders had shown up to her for help managing their portfolios on the recommendation of their bookies and dealers and the properties of their favorite brothels. Using her talent for saying just what people wanted to hear Daiyu got herself invited to dinners and parties and private screenings where she was introduced to more socialites and members of high society in need of a very polite, very intelligent and very discrete investment expert who was also willing to help make your financial records look a bit cleaner. It was another circle and soon NeoTokyo Brokerage and its charismatic young founder were front page of magazines and websites throughout Japan and the world.
At the age of 26 Dàiyù entrusted her company to "an old friend" (really another Yakuza associate) and signed up with the JSDF, ostensibly out of a sense of patriotic duty. In actuality she had just gotten bored of the businesswoman gimmick and wanted to try something else. The actual day to day of soldiering was hard to stomach but was worth it just for the weapons training, the chance to play around with long range rifles and hand grenades very exciting for someone as adrenaline driven as her. She spent two years in the 1st Division and then three in the elite Special Forces Group as a sniper before returning to her old position as a financial magnate, enlisted in the reserves but mostly free to go about her business.
No matter how much money she handled, no matter how many rich snobs she was invited to play golf with, Dàiyù had never been brought into the Yamaguchi. There were plenty of people with deep pockets and extensive Rolodexes, Dai was not special. But when she veered back into more expressly illegal ventures she became to get the higher ups attention. Using the training she had picked up in the military and her penchant for climbing tall buildings Dai began to work as a fixer, stealing information and assassinating people who had made enemies of NeoTokyo's underworld for whatever reason. Under her guise as the Fox she made a name for herself as a dependable agent and was finally brought into the ranks by 33. It was this acceptance into the fold that caused her to get her tattoos, turning her back into a canvas honoring her organization.
It came as a surprise when the NSF contacted her but not an unwelcome one. Black ops operations on domestic soil, fighting elite terrorists looking to overthrow the government in off the books missions? It was the exact sort of job that Dai found exciting and she accepted it without a moments hesitation.
The fact that letting her bosses know about the mere existence of the NSF would be a boon to her career was just a bonus.
Affiliations -Japanese Self-Defense Forces (Formerly) - NeoTokyo Brokerage (Her company) - National Security Force (Her current employers) - Yamaguchi-gumi (Her other current employers)
Appearance In and out of armour, Yukiko is not a particularly extraordinary individual. Dull chocolate eyes, a pleasant if poorly maintained countenance and medium length brown hair pulled back into a rough ponytail make for an unremarkable appearance, another jacket-and-jeans wearing woman waking the streets of Tokyo. Nothing about her makes her stand out, an appearance not curated, but instead just a genuine result of her lifestyle.
This average appearance extends to when she's working too. Past the unique appearance the AVNSD gives her PDHUD, the Ō-Yoroi weave she wears is hardly an uncommon sight, being used by both gangsters and private security, and although katanas might stand out elsewhere, in Tokyo a lot of goons carry cheap blades to look tougher. Only when the guns are firing and her skills come to bear does her exceptional side show.
Height 5'1".
Personality The best word to describe Yukiko is 'professional.' Being a mercenary, she conducts herself without much pomp or circumstance, and her rough life has given her an inherently down to Earth and less bombastic personality. Years of directly conducting herself with clients have left her knowledgeable and able to explain her strengths whilst also allowing her to remain consumately professional. Many might underestimate her from this, and oftentimes this is the last mistake they will ever make.
This lack of a flashy and outgoing personality extends to her buying habits. Although her custom-ordered firearms and blades might make one think she's a big spender, this could be far from the truth- she's actually quite reserved, her weapons 'business expenses' and nothing more. She eats at cheap ramen bars for lunch, drinks Asahi Dry and lives in a small apartment. Even in combat she can often be missed, as her smaller frame and unsuspecting weaponry conceal her skill with firearms and blades... Or, at least, missed right until her AVNSD turns on, and suddenly foes are left reeling and ripe for the picking. In combat, she is an efficient, self-maintained operator, taking no pleasure as the bodies stack up behind her other than the grim statisfaction of a job well done. Her preferred post-mission meal are a plate of dumplings.
Role Heavy Assault. Yukiko does not do subtlety.
Equipment
Nihonto Katana & Wakizashi: Although not strictly speaking 'true' Nihonto blades, as they were made with modern metals, they are made in Japan, by a Japanese swordsmith, and specifically sized and balanced for Yukiko. Unlike many street chumps she doesn't embellish her weapons with glowing paint or flashy accessories; her swords are a no-nonsense, well-sharpened mankillers with eelskin grips. Kept maintained to a mirror finish. To quote an old film, if Yukiko encountered God, God would be cut. Not made in Okinawa.
Mateba New Model Autorevolver: The successor to the 1997 Mateba Autorevolver. A custom order imported from Montebelluna, Italy, it's unknown how exactly Yukiko managed to acquire not only such a unique firearm, but one loaded with 5.7x26mm rounds instead of its usual configuaration. Apparently the story involved a gunsmith, a lot of blood and even more money. Something about a Roman Emperor in there too. Six shots, semi-automatic, armour piercing.
Micro-Uzi Pro: Yukiko's prodigious ability to acquire rare guns strikes again. Usually only seen in the hands of Israel's Defence Force, these all-polymer submachine guns are tiny and extremley lightweight, whilst still capable of hosing town targets with 9x19.
Benelli M3: 12 gauge version. Taken for operations where she expects a large amount of close-quarters work against heavily armoured opponents that her swords would struggle against. A very common sight in the hands of law enforcment, military operators and civillians all over the world, which, ironically, makes it stand out somewhat in Yukiko's hands.
Ō-Yoroi Kevlar Weave: An old name for a new armour, Ō-Yoroi weave is a lightweight bullet resistant set including breastplate, protective skirt for the groin and upper legs, neck guard, shoulders and biceps. Only really considered to be protective against street-level weaponry, the fact that Yukiko routinely brings it to tactical combat situations and comes out alive is a sign of not only extreme cockiness, but also proficiency.
None.
Sessho-Seki Audiovisual-Neurostatic Disruptor: The original Sessho-Seki was said to be a stone huanted by the sprit of Tamano-no-Mae, the legendary fox spirit, that would kill whoever touched it. The Sessho-Seki AVNSD does not bring death, but in Yukiko's hands, certainly has the reaper's spectre following it. The device appears as a simple PHUD mounted on Yukiko's head, and, indeed, that is its usual purpose, but the non-standard amplifiers placed over her mouth and the large speakers mounted onto her front and back have a much more sinister reason to exist. When activated, the AVNSD sends out a barrage of narrow-spectrum waves specifically designed to target machines and men and make them suffer. Radios and personal communication devices howl with feedback, screens and HUDs stutter and fill with static, ears ring with tinnitus, eyes water and mouths fill with the thick taste of rust and copper. It is rare that one can focus through such an assault, and whilst hands are clapped over ears or eyes squeezed shut, Yuikiko moves in to neutralise once-threats permenantly. Although variants of this technology is commonly seen mounted on riot surpression or military vehicles, no commercial, personel-mounted variant has been known to exist due to the difficulties in inuring the operator to its own effects. How Yukiko manages to do so; if she uses custom made cybernetics, chems, a combination of both or some third, unknown option, isn't widely known.
The device does have several downsides beyond the potential problems for its users. Its range is fairly short; only twenty or so metres out, with the full power of the effect only coming in at around ten metres, it's highly noticable, creating a sound described as a 'disco from hell' when activated, rendering stealth nigh-impossible, and the sheer range of frequencies require a tremendous amount of power, thus preventing it from being frequently used in an operation. Fortunately, Yukiko manages to downplay these negatives by carefully choosing the fights she can take, as well as when to activate the AVNSD to maximise its effects.
Previous Careers A mercenary for longer than most would assume from someone so young and a professional street rat before that, Yukiko knows many people around both Tokyo and the world who can assist her when she really needs them. Not to mention that it's rare to find someone that can get around the capital faster than her.
Biography Who was this person before they joined the NSF? Were they a simple civilian dedicating their life to a cause after the Nuking of 2012, or perhaps they have a much more militarised background? Childhoods, what brought them up and maybe key information that will help show what shapes them as an individual.
Affiliations Who are they related to? Do they have any major friends or life-impacting allies prior to the RP's beginning?
Relationships [Optional]
Kaz: Yukiko has worked with Kaz once before, in an operation that got the pair on the radar of the Jinrai. Having stood back to back admist puddles of blood, she knows that as unstable as the American is she does put up one hell of a fight, and that worst comes to worse her huge frame makes half decent cover in a pinch.
” Naomi still dislikes me for being blunt and serious for what I did. All these people try to run away from their fate and destiny, but I put it right. No matter what my father wanted...”
Name: Yamamoto Mikasa
Nationality: Japanese
Age: 32
Sexuality: Bisexual
Birth: February 12, 1999; Kobe, Japan
General Description
Mikasa has paler skin than most people, but she gets enough sunlight but wears sunscreen to protect her skin’s radiance. She does have a beautiful figure, with the body type she holds with her, but has a slightly different kind of way she stands. Her hair is in multiple hairstyles, but she usually enjoys wearing it in a ponytail, which causes her to use red hair bands. The bangs are abnormally longer than the overall length of her hair, which sometimes get in her eyes. She has a beautifully large tattoo on her body, starting from her left leg and going up to her mid-back. Her tattoo is dragon-shaped, which shows what she thinks of herself some of the time and why she’s so blunt. Her body language shows Mikasa is carefree and only wants to deal with technology of any kind, but does have a problem with interactions. Mikasa sometimes whistles while she works on her projects or other misconceptions about herself, but she also has a hint of guilt in how she walks. However, she carries herself with a bit more weight to how she acts than other native Japanese; it is mostly because of the foresight of how she sees things.
As the Yamamoto Heiress, she understands how to make herself much more presentable than others. However, she hardly ever smiles while speaking to others, unless they are something of a weapon or project she is working on in her workshop. Additionally, when something troubles Mikasa, you will know it since she makes it definitely when she talks about the awful maintenance on gear. She had always gotten familial love from her parents, but she didn’t need it since she sees their plans as a counter to hers. Mikasa doesn’t see any point in wearing high heels since regular tennis shoes or boots would be better. It is not like any high heels will gain on the much taller women of other countries. She is indeed flexible and usually carries on her some tools to hold to her engineering talents. Her eyes generally glow with determination, wanting to help others in their engineering needs, and a slight bit of regret or guilt. As such, they also show beauty to them too, which is why they are orangish-red. Her eyes do feel a bit sorry for people who never had any familial love like Naomi, which is why she’s a bit worried for her. However, she has a great sense of balance and hand-eye coordination, which is why she never tripped over her two own feet. Mikasa’s hygiene is second to none since it’s better to keep no hair on her legs or her arms, basically meaning it’s essential.
Mikasa’s NSF On-Duty Uniform is the standard-issue engineering uniform, but with her black leather jacket instead of the usual jacket. She has no such cybernetic implants in or on her body because she sees cybernetic implants as impure on her, but others she’ll help with theirs. It shows how she looks towards people and is grateful she never wants to deal with that annoyance, but she is grateful to be working on more advanced cybernetics. Her NSF Off-Duty Uniform is one of her outfits she likes wearing. It’s not like she dislikes dresses; it just would get in the way of her engineering or catch on fire. Mikasa’s weird exterior is the heiress of her family, which usually requires her to wear a dress.
Mikasa requires once in a while to wear a dress when going to a high society party or any other form of date. She immensely dislikes the word, but if her parents want her to go to one of these events, she must bring a person to help her fit in better. Her parents are interfering in her not wanting to be tied down, unlike what Mikasa did with Naomi. Mikasa isn’t too fussy when it comes to what to wear; it is the reason why she usually doesn’t like to wear overly expensive dresses. She also wears beautifully made sleepwear from her family’s corporation since it makes a clothing line.
Height: 5’2”
Weight: 126 lbs
Body Type: Hourglass
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Orangish Red
Personality:
Mikasa is blunt and straight to the point, which shows it’s better to be that way than not. She always tries to see things differently than most people in Japan or abroad. Therefore, she would instead work on weapons, cybernetics, cars, and other technologies than dealing with people. Some people are quite unnerved at her attitude, philosophically charged, with an understanding of death and things in that wheelhouse of thinking. She doesn’t smile much when dealing with others who can talk back, always slightly frustrated or a bit nervous. However, the time you see her smiling is when she’s holding a weapon or tinkering with weapons, electronics, cybernetics, and other forms of technology. She has a standard more superb than most people who live in Japan since she belongs to the Yamamoto Family. Only the other high-society elites in Japan get her absolute respect; all the while, the interactions with different nationalities show her lack of smiling. However, Mikasa can show anger, but it’s only to pure-blooded Americans; she rolls her eyes and curses under her breath because of this. She has never met an American that wasn’t selfish, outright greedy, or disrespects the Japanese culture.
Mikasa had an interaction with an 18-year-old American girl named Chelsea, which changed the hate slightly in her heart towards Americans. However, Mikasa had a terrible feeling that horrible things would happen to Chelsea in seven years in NeoTokyo, Japan. Therefore, she helped Chelsea go back to California, US, by being utterly blunt with her about what will happen to her. However, this specific good deed caused her to help out another need to find true love, which she doesn’t care if she is disliked. The woman who was finding true love was Naomi Hattori, which was two years younger than her. Ironically enough, she already found that true love and just needed to be pushed in that direction because she was blind to the truth of the matter. Therefore, all these interactions in saving people made her still don’t like smiling, but she’s a bit more friendly towards Americans and other cultures.
However, she still rolls her eyes when people hit on her, which can’t take a hint she’s not interested in being tied down. Mikasa’s reason for that is because she’s tied down to her work rather than being tied down by true love. However, she would rather have sexual relations with both men and women, but without any of that moppy stuff that involves being in a relationship. If you do sappy things with her, she’ll instead hit you on your face no matter your gender or nationality. She respects people who have much darker humor because her humor tends to be darker than usual. Her mood is all over the place, but it leans most of the time to dark comedy. Death is like the only constant in what’s going on in NeoTokyo between the NSF and Jinrai. It is only a matter of time when everyone dies. She makes people a bit afraid of how serious she can get when talking about death’s metaphysical realities.
There are two things very noticeable about Mikasa when on duty, she’s excitable and at the same time feels like the person who can keep secrets very well. She always smiles while testing out gear and weapons to see how much more she can improve them. To make sure no one fails in their operations on the field, Mikasa. However, she is still blunt and usually is more talkative about her career choice or weapons. It is a stark contrast to the usual introverted demeanor of how she carries herself in the world. Her views on everything are quite insightful but quite challenging to follow some of the time.
Languages:
Mikasa can speak English, Korean, German, French, Spanish, and Italian. Also, to her native Japanese language, it is because she’s a multi-linguist and wanted to be a translator to tourists. Learned these languages by the Rosetta Stone Program to learn these languages quickly and master them precisely for translator work. She speaks Japanese to people who can understand Japanese, while the other languages are for people who didn’t learn Japanese.
Role: Engineering Specialist
Equipment: - Daito, Hi-Karo Camouflage Rifle: Daito is a Hi-Karo Industries specialized weapon that changes its camo scheme to the environment surrounding it like a frog. Mikasa’s pride and joy because she tinkered with it enough to make it her rifle. Her Daito fires 7.62mm rounds, which were augmented to carry larger rifle rounds. While other Hi-Karo Camouflage Rifles usually use the NATO variant ammo type of 5.56mm rounds. This Rifle is generally kept in her car and used in some weapon tests by target practice since she always had a use for it. - Adati Kei, Semi-Automatic Pistol: The Adati Kei Pistol is from the Sun Corporation, which supports the NSF with weapons of any kind. It has twelve rounds, which has a semi-automatic setting that fires three rounds per shot. It has standard-issue 9mm rounds, which is for personal defense because it's better to have something than nothing. Mikasa carries this pistol in a gun holster around her waist, which it has its safety on at all times. - Engineering Uniform: Mikasa’s NSF Engineering Uniform. It has been customized to fit slightly more tools to make sure she can repair whatever comes her way. As such, it also has a name tag on her left side. - Mikasa’s NSF Data Pad: Mikasa’s NSF personnel connection datapad to field agents about her projects on repairing or upgrading their gear. The upgrades she can do are give the weapon much more firepower or be able to overcharge it. In comparison, the armor upgrades are usually much more nuanced than her weapon upgrades. However, all these do take much more time than repairing the armor, weapon, or any gadgets that got broken in an operation. - ANAG-K683-DS Flash Drive: The Augmentative Neural Access Grid, which is apart of one of her projects that she has been working on in her spare time in the NSF. She feels responsible for installing a non-functional version of this grid in Hi-Karo Industry Combat Drones that caused them to run amok in Hi-Karo Industry Factories. She wants to rewrite it completely; therefore, her family doesn’t have to deal with any lawsuits against their establishment. It is the least she owes her family for ruining her father’s plans with the Sun Corporation and the Guarri Family. She usually always carries on her person in a flash drive since it has the Hi-Karo Conglomeration symbol. However, she usually only deals with this project at one of her three homes after leaving the NSF HQ. - Nokia Private Cellphone: It is protected by a metallic silver case with a much smaller version of her dragon tattoo. Mikasa only uses this cellphone for private personal calls with her parents; when they call, that is. She keeps it on vibrate because it would be quite annoying to start ringing in the middle of her concentration time.
Previous Careers: Hi-Karo Conglomerate Head Engineer - Jaito Excel Prototyping Field & Salome Research Grid ( April 6th, 2024 - August 5th, 2030) Hi-Karo Industries Head Designer Engineer - Daito, Caito, Saito, and Jaito Divisions. Daito Weapons, Caito Cybernetics, Saito Electronics, Jatio Cars, Jets and Drones. (2017 - April 5th, 2024)
Biography:
Yamamoto Mikasa was born in Kobe on February 12, 1999, to the Yamamoto Family, who controls the Hi-Karo Conglomeration. Hisanari and his wife Emiko are quite supportive of their daughter compared to other high society parents. Mikasa was allowed to do anything she wanted as long as she followed the plans shown to her. It was shown very much early on she was a prodigy in the fields of anything she wanted to deal with in Engineering. As such, they changed their plans to be more focused on her genius and whatever she wanted to follow. It was great to have a prodigal daughter. However, her father found out quickly that she’s blunt and would probably end in him having his hair lose all the color in it.
Mikasa had a large selection of plans from her parents, but she outright chose her own path. As such, she wanted to try to become a translator. However, she learned really quickly it would be better to try when she’s much older. The Yamamoto Family is highly traditional, which would rather stay in Kobe than move, but their daughter can do whatever she wants. The Hi-Karo Conglomerate opened up some engineering workshops in Tokyo, Japan, but then the nuclear attack happened. It utterly terrified the family, which they wanted to help the country’s recovery. It is a good thing they built engineering workshops around. Mikasa couldn’t help but show that everyone dies, but no one lives forever. It is why natural selection is a thing.
Mikasa decided on her 18th birthday to move to Tokyo, which was because it would be better to live nearer to the Hattori Heiress. It is also because she loved the designs made in Tokyo; the Engineering Facilities of the Hi-Karo Industries are second to none in Japan. Two years later, Mikasa was having a panic attack and feeling like she had a midlife crisis. She had regretted something like she hadn’t any fun or anything like that. However, this is when she first met Hattori Naomi, who was sitting at a restaurant drinking alcohol. It caused her to push her way to get her attention to help her with her midlife crisis. As such, she told her feelings and reasons for inviting Naomi to get a tattoo of a mythical creature. Because she didn’t like the reason, she was supposed to marry a man of another highly influential family in Japan. She wanted to do her own work and not deal with any of the problems of being tied down to raise a child. Mikasa was heavily high maintenance, and raising a child wouldn’t be up to her alleyway; she would probably scare her daughter or son with how badly dark her humor is. The Tattoo she got was a Dragon, and Naomi got a Phoenix Tattoo on her back.
Five years later, Mikasa was walking near the International Airport of Neotokyo and saw a heavily expensive private jet land, which it was in the year 2024. It was no other than the Ideal Union of Flight created by the Halifax Corporation to be one of the few Private Sky Mansions globally. Mikasa rolled her eyes and knew that means one of the O'Connell family was on the flight, which she decided to intervene to get whoever is on that private jet to return home. It's only because Americans have a holier than thou attitude, greedy, and utterly hopeless about changing their ways. Mikasa bumped into the person who walked off the Private Jet inside of the International Airport of NeoTokyo, which was Chelsea R. O'Connell. Mikasa had no idea why an 18-year-old American would come all the way here to Japan unless it's for her parent's Corporation to get closer to the Sun Corporation.
She wanted to introduce herself first, but Chelsea introduced herself in fluent Japanese, which slightly floored her because most Americans that come to Japan don't research and understand the language. It intrigued her, and she asked Chelsea why she came all the way here from the United States' West Coast. Chelsea explained, she wanted to help the Japanese with what happened to them on Feb. 12, 2012, the nuclear attack that happened exactly in Tokyo. Mikasa laughed at her for being incredibly naive and out of her own element, which she went completely blunt and told her exactly what she wanted to say. In terms, it means Chelsea will be taken advantage of by anyone and everyone in NeoTokyo, because of how naive she is. The Japanese people don't really need a starry-eyed little optimistic girl that wants to change the world in the Capital of Japan, better to go back home. Chelsea was a bit utterly shocked at being told that the natives of Japan didn't need her. Mikasa did tell Chelsea, as long as you return home not to ruin anyone's lives in Japan, I will be your friend and talk to you from time to time. Better to support the hyper depressive girl from a distance over dealing with her failure in the future. Chelsea had to take a second to think about that, but Mikasa didn't hold her punches and sighed in depression and nodded to Mikasa. Chelsea went back to her private Jet and returned home. Mikasa sighed, grateful that was over, but she got to know that not all Americans were greedy assholes who only cared about themselves, which mainly helped her rethink about them.
Mikasa had a smile on her face when Chelsea left back in her overly expensive private American Jet. There was only one person she saw no matter her many problems is Hattori Naomi. However, Mikasa decided to find Naomi and tell her that she should marry Guarri Nobunaga in the bluntest way possible. Mikasa found Naomi and saw that Naomi was two months pregnant, which felt Naomi had no idea about that part. All because of what would happen if she never did go to marrying Nobunaga, raising a daughter is such a lonely affair if you don't have a nuclear family. Mikasa smiled happily when Naomi finally realized after all this time, she was pregnant and knew who knocked her up, which was Nobunaga. They went their separate ways, but Mikasa did accept the wedding invitation from Naomi and Nobunaga. However, Mikasa learned of the terrible cybernetic augments that controlled Naomi by the Drai Division of the Sun Corporation. It really helped that she told Naomi's mother that she would die five days after Ayame was born to Naomi and Nobunaga. Mikasa felt much better after Naomi and Nobunaga were married and had their daughter Ayame.
However, Mikasa was called by her parents simultaneously, and they were pretty angry at her for ruining their plans with their competition. She explained to her parents that it was the right thing to do for someone like Naomi, who was hurting so much, and she would've done it again in a heartbeat. Mikasa even saved Chelsea, who was incredibly out of her element in coming to NeoTokyo, who would've been horribly shredded in NeoTokyo by being used by Nobunaga until he no longer needed her. Guarri Nobunaga was a terrible man if he was without Naomi, the one he truly loved, but he would be much more careful to help his wife get over Naomi's childhood trauma from her parents. It is why Mikasa loved her parents since they are much kinder in that department. Mikasa always had problems with other people, and meeting her fiance through the plan really showed her not interested. She basically told him to fuck off and go back home to cry to mommy for her being so mean. It’s because she didn’t want to get in bed with him, the creep that he was. All he wanted was to marry her for the wealth, it was plain as day, but she didn’t want to be apart of a puppet show. Mikasa basically gave her parents an ultimatum, stop ruining my career in engineering with prospects of a family since I am married to my work over needing that. In essence, she and her family came with a compromise, as long as Mikasa stops ruining her father's plans, they will stop trying to get her a suitor. In that case, they agreed, but they never knew the real reason why she wanted to be left alone with suitor after suitor. Mikasa felt incredibly guilty in creating a program that killed some Hi-Karo Conglomerate Workers by Drones running amok, which happened a year before her finally coming to her parents. She will make it work even if it takes resetting her work by a year or two only because she wants to feel happier than having a pang of guilt in her chest.
She had no real idea how to figure out how she could redeem herself to keep this wholly by herself because she would wonder how her family would react. If they found out why that drone amok problem happened, it happened because of a miscalculation error on her part. Mikasa hasn’t told anyone of this, but she has a feeling someone does know that the Hi-Karo Industries Military Aspect Drones are a bit dangerous to use. She knew that this could be used as blackmail. She wants to make sure that it doesn't happen again because those combat drones are one of a kind, which require the correct programming over the wrong one. Her own personal project to make things right over than allowing others to work on it again because they overlooked the miscalculation in the first place.
Mikasa's deep-seated feelings of guilt kept on growing and growing, which didn’t help. She wanted any way out of this guilt she had in her heart from imploding her very lucrative career as an engineer in her family’s conglomeration. However, she was given a chance when people approached her from an organization that was quite unknown. It was a Government Organization controlled by the Prime Minister, which shocked her somewhat. Mikasa felt like this would be a good fit for her, which she wanted to join but would have to quit her job. However, Mikasa joined on August 8, 2030, because it made sense at that time. Funnily enough, Mikasa learned that Naomi joined the same day because of a simple reason to protect her own daughter Ayame and her husband, Nobunaga. It was clear as day anyway from how much in love Naomi was with Nobunaga and loved her daughter.
Afterward, in November of 2031, many things were happening in the NSF, including a few scandals and investigations about foreign and native agents. However, Mikasa kept her record clean since she would never tell anyone the reasons why she joined. Not even Hattori, Naomi knew why she joined, but her eyes are hiding that they are depressed and guilty of something compared to Naomi’s eyes. In the biggest of precautions and slightly paranoid, Mikasa owns three separate homes in NeoTokyo. It was the best idea for her to do since she wanted to have some peace over dealing with other things.
Mikasa never really has anyone over to her homes because of how heavily guarded each of her homes. They are guarded by her family’s corporate bodyguards, who are much more professional than the V-Troopers and much less sexist. It is only because they have to guard Mikasa when she arrives home. These bodyguards are called the Directorate Karonians, which act somewhat like old school samurai but always know what Mikasa is thinking. They aren’t really bothered by Mikasa's dishonor as long as she tries to rewrite her past mistakes to be something better.
Mikasa had hoped her future would be better but is much less an optimist than Naomi…
Affiliations:
The Yamamoto family is highly regarded as the most influential Japanese Family in Japan within high society circles. Mostly because of the Hi-Karo Conglomerate, which is separated into two different focuses; the Hi-Karo Industries, which primarily deals with weapons, cars, jets, and drones. The Hi-Karo Corporation mainly deals with an extensive clothing line and advertising its products only in all Japanese corners. The Corporation even promotes the Hi-Karo Industries’ products since they are both apart of the Hi-Karo Conglomerate. Additionally, Hi-Karo Industries is also working on Cybernetics, but these cybernetics are only for people within the High Society circles in Japan. This family is even more influential than the Hattori or Guarri Families combined, but they share an equalized power base when the Hattori-Guarri Family Alliance happened.
Yamamoto Mikasa is the cause of the Hattori-Guarri Family Alliance and Unification. She didn’t want to see either family fall off a cliff to have infighting between the two. Therefore, she caused Hattori Naomi and Guarri Nobunaga to marry by forcing Hattori Naomi to let go of her fear finally of Guarri Nobunaga to be happy for once. In terms, it pissed off her parents to unify the two families. Since they usually go based on Always better to divide and conquer, their bit of annoying daughter saved Hattori Naomi and Chelsea R. O’Connell. Their fate would have been much worse if Chelsea didn’t leave Japan and go back to live with her parents.
Yamamoto Hisanari – Father, Alive; Founder of the Hi-Karo Conglomeration (65 Years Old, Born in 1966)
Hisanari is quite annoyed at his daughter’s constant destruction of his plans, which always include trying to keep his Conglomerate on top. However, he loves Mikasa only because he does feel she could bring great honor to the Yamamoto Clan. He saw the brighter side of what his daughter had done; Competition would continue to grow the Hi-Karo Conglomeration over stunting its growth. It will take time to forgive Mikasa, but she doesn’t try to ruin his plans further. Hisanari lost all the color in his blonde hair, which turned to white. It is primarily because of his daughter’s frustratingly blunt and problematic genius on specific engineering projects.
Yamamoto Emiko – Mother, Alive; Co-Founder of the Hi-Karo Conglomeration (64 Years Old, Born in 1967)
Emiko’s feelings about her only child Mikasa are mixed. It’s because Mikasa has always been married to her work wanting to be tied down. She doesn’t understand why her daughter won’t have a child since they would rather have a granddaughter or grandson to keep their line going. They don’t even live in the city to which Mikasa moved to NeoTokyo. The Hi-Karo Conglomerate does have branch offices in NeoTokyo for their Hi-Karo Industries part of the Conglomerate. Emiko takes care of her hair even though she's an older woman now, which shows its blonde color.
Mikasa was approached by a specific odd bunch of people asking her to join the NSF Organization. With her temperament, she had given them somewhat of a shock of her interest in joining it. It was because she had felt guilty for not properly testing the Augmentative Neural Access Grid for her parents’ conglomeration. She wanted to fix that glitch because it would be better than having rogue drones killing employees of the Hi-Karo Conglomeration. Her primary field of engineering expertise, which she heavily enjoys, but her being blunt is always a problem. Mikasa also promised not to give any information to anyone, mostly because of its improper conduct.
Funnily enough, she learned pretty early on that Hattori Naomi joined simultaneously as her. August 8, 2030, joined the National Security Forces, a month after Hattori Naomi’s daughter’s birthday. Mikasa always finds it a bit funny; it caused Naomi to have a family with Guarri Nobunaga. However, time passed in the NSF through each time the field agents returned, she repaired their gear to go back against the Jinrai. The NSF started to investigate its organization members, including Japanese natives and foreign agents, for specific tragedies. Mikasa’s record was so clean that the only thing that was a problem was her bluntness and why she still feels guilty about what happened previously. She grew to trust certain NSF personnel because they can handle her strangeness, which includes Naomi.
Additional Information: - Hi-Karo Conglomerate Heiress: It comes as no shock; this includes a massive allowance to keep her from feeling as if she’s poor. Her family supports her even though they dislike how annoying Mikasa is. - Hi-Karo Jaito Excel, Hover Car: This Hover Car is one of the most delicate experiments of the Hi-Karo Industries’ Mikasa trying to get a different feel for cars. It is heavily experimental; this car can shift itself into a road vehicle too, but you have to disable its hover mode. Therefore, this car has about six more years in its experimental phase before Mikasa feels ready for Excel Hover Car to be ready for the consumer market. She replaced her original beater, which was a Mitsubishi Sports Car for the Jaito Excel. - Private Helicopter: She owns the latest model of Japanese Manufactured Helicopters from one of the Hi-Karo Industries’ competitors. It is only because her family doesn’t deal with helicopters, only Jets and Cars. This helicopter has her family’s symbol on the left side of its hull. - Houses: She has three different houses within NeoTokyo, which she keeps herself from staying in one for too long. Mostly because of what’s happening in the city compared to what is happening elsewhere in the country. It is a bit of a hassle for her, but the Yamamoto Family already owned all these houses. However, her mother and father never leave their hometown since her family’s Conglomerate HQ exists there.
”Ugh, I dislike Mikasa for all she did previously, but I suppose it worked out in the end...”
Name: Hattori Naomi
Nationality: Japanese
Age: 30
Sexuality: Bisexual
Birth: May 2, 2001; Osaka, Japan
General Description
Naomi has a tanned skin color because of her family’s position in having the most beautiful possible heiress. Her age and body type show her beauty very well to others with the same body type. She’s undoubtedly beautiful, which she usually wears her hair in a bun or any form of style other than straight. However, when she does wear it in any different manner than a bun style, her hair is beautifully long, which stops past her mid-back, and the black color helps its beauty. She has a beautiful tattoo on her back, which is a phoenix, colored in perfectly too. However, some pretty nasty scars on her arms, back, and legs as if someone punished her for not doing as told. In her body language, these traumas show that she’s somewhat afraid of being hit and always holds a quiet fear of something, which is because she shakes quite a lot. Naomi bites her lower lip as if she is barely making it through the day, which is the cause of her seriousness.
She is presentable enough compared to other native-born Japanese, mostly because of her passive and charming smile. Additionally, her body language also tells everything that happened to her; bad or good is something to live within her heart. It troubled Naomi that she could never feel familial love from her parents. In terms of her height, she’s as tall as all the other Japanese women in the Home Isles, but she is quite flexible, and her agility is second to none. It is mostly because of all the training of running every which way as if on a string. Her eyes are mixed feelings of regret, depression, kindness, caring, and determination to become a better mother than the one who raised her. As such, they also show beauty to them too, which is why they are brown. Her eyes go dimmer when not on duty but glow a bit when on duty. She needs something to do to keep her focused on other things than her mental problems. It doesn’t help Naomi be pretty clumsy as a child because of all the mean things said to her. She does always keep her legs well clean and shaven, which is because hygiene is essential.
Her on-duty uniform was made for her skin-tight beauty but flexible to fit NSF’s uniform color standards. There are three crucial cybernetic implants within Naomi’s body, which don’t affect her beauty on the surface. These implants’ locations are in her brain, both of her legs surrounding her inner skeletal structure, and the last one is near her heart. The Sun Corporation’s Drai Division explicitly made these cybernetic implants. Additionally, all the augments are linked to the VX-8500 Helmet. Naomi’s outfit is one of her outfits she likes wearing, specifically towards the casual way but with a skirt. It’s much different from her on-duty uniform, at least.
Naomi is wearing formal dresses and other usual clothes when she has entirely left the NSF Headquarters and changed into her style. She has some more casual outfits, but she’s much pickier than most women in her chosen field. However, the HT-9000-B Sun Tracker Headset is always around her neck no matter what, or Naomi’s wearing it on her ears listening to music; at least its tracking software doesn’t activate in NSF locations. No matter what, it is one of the most encumbering headsets she wore in a long time, which is the only good thing it can be wireless or wired. However, Naomi wears beautiful nightwear while trying to sleep, living with her husband.
Additionally, her favorite dress is a sparkly blue dress with her husband’s most beautiful necklaces that her husband bought her. The dress is a long dress styled with a phoenix image on her dress’s back, showing her phoenix style tattoo on her back. Naomi is very proud of this dress since she wears it around her daughter and husband.
Height: Regular Height – 5’2” High Heels – 5’3”
Weight: 123 lbs
Body Type: Hourglass
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Personality:
Naomi has a conflict in her mind between her two natures; one is kind, caring, and happy with her decisions. While her other nature outright is the opposite of her kind nature, lying to herself, fears for her life regularly, depressed and believed her family was average. In truth, her parents weren’t ever happy with each other or with her. She was the conduit of her parent’s anger or frustration over how not good she was. These are the reasons for her constant feeling needing to be validated in other ways. No matter what, she’s tied down to her family’s traditions of never being allowed to change her family name. Her mother has always looked at Naomi in a much different light than most people, which is that she's a tool for her father. Naomi had still been missing a stable family relationship, so her parents constantly bash her mental defenses with constantly battering her self-esteem. As such, her parents wanted her to be the beautiful heiress their corporation needed, which was what heiresses had to do in the Hattori family.
She found out something about herself by validating her family’s existence, who had feelings for both genders. It was only because of the mental abuse she was getting from both of her parents that made her have massive mother and daddy issues. However, she would try her best to become a better mother than Hattori Mio to show her up. It caused her to fear men because of how awful her father had been to her, regularly calling her terrible names. As such, it’s why when she was 18 years old, she did not answer Guarri Nobunaga’s marriage proposal. Guarri Nobunaga scared her heavily since he was 23 years old and was friends with her father. However, five years later, she was approached by Yamamoto Mikasa, who annoyingly gave her many reasons to marry Guarri Nobunaga. These reasons include if she doesn’t do that, she would die in 4 years and never be able to one-up her mother, Mio. Therefore, she finally called up Guarri Nobunaga and ultimately gave him his answer to the question he popped five years earlier, which was a yes to the marriage proposal. Nine months later, she had a sweet little girl named Ayame, which made her slowly heal from all the torment she had. However, she disliked Yamamoto Mikasa for what she had done but felt grateful for why she did it. Naomi has been known to be absent-minded from time to time only because of her family’s verbal and mental abuse towards her.
In terms, she never once got an apology from her mother for how awful she was, not even on her mother’s death bed. It broke the semblance of what she created for her mother, which she was a kind individual, which she wasn’t at all. As such, it hurts her soul that she never made up with her mother, but her father would be even harder to reconcile since he is always hyper controlling over her. It is why she would rather keep things from her sweet little daughter over telling her anything that would hurt her. Therefore, this would be the one way that she would try to be a better mother than her own, which died of incurable cancer out of nowhere. The constant balance of basically two faces or two personalities was a balancing act for Naomi. However, it shows she wants to be happy but absolutely cannot because of how she’s treated in the Hattori Family even without her mother, Mio. She looks much more frustrated and annoyed at something, a regular battle over her mental state, without antidepressants because her family doesn’t believe in that type of help. Therefore, she’s trying to push through the depression by living life to the best of her ability, but sometimes it’s hard. She does have a cutie of a child to show her kindness to since Ayame needs it.
Naomi, on duty, is a much different woman compared to her being off duty. She carries herself with much pride in how she deals with being a Recon and Support Specialist. It’s because Naomi’s very serious about working and only smiles at people who try to compliment her. As such, it shows she is respectable to people who are also workaholics, even though having Mikasa on the base is quite annoying. Because of how Mikasa’s personality interacts with her, it is quite irritating to deal with, but she respects how Mikasa can repair gear with scary efficiency. If anything, it is like Mikasa has been an engineer for most of her life or something, besides having an irritating personality to everyone else that works in the NSF. However, she carries much more respect for the people who are her seniors since she started in April of last year.
Role: Recon and Support Specialist
Equipment: - Augmented Erasure Blade: The Sun Corporation’s Top of the line Bladed Katana, which the non-augmented Erasure Blades are given to V-Troopers. It is specialized to cut through shields, like a hot knife through butter. As such, it can deploy protection from its hilt to protect Naomi from the weapon’s fire for a while. Additionally, it was augmented to give someone a massive shock as if a taser hit them. She was given this weapon as a gift by her father for wanting to join the NSF. - Standard NSF Assault Rifle, Suppressed Variant: Plus Flashlight or Smoke Grenade Launcher Attachments. - Standard NSF Semi-Automatic Pistol: 12 Rounds per clip - Notations Pad: It is hooked up to other NSF Field Agents on the field. Naomi gets her orders from higher-ranking officers in the NSF. Additionally, she gets to talk to the Engineering Division to get annoyed at the bluntness of Mikasa. - Recon/Support Uniform: The Head Sun Corporate Researcher augmented Mikasa’s Recon, Support Uniform to be in line with the NSF’s Standards, but the cost was expensive. It had to be altered to match the National Security Forces’ colors, including camouflage and additional methods to sneak around. However, Mikasa wears the Sun Corporation’s XV-8500 Top of the Line Helmets over the NSF Standard Issue Helmet. Additionally, her entire armor scheme is sleek and smooth looking, which has a slightly more emphasis on her figure and body. In terms, it is what the Sun Corporation Emphasizes in its V-Trooper Female Outfits. - HTC-8000 Cellphone, Delta Pacer Edition: The Halifax Corporation Developed this cellphone has its way to develop a better bond with the Sun Corporation. The Delta Pacer Edition can connect to any Sun Corporation of Halifax Corporation Device. It can wirelessly connect to the HT-9000-C Tracker Headset, Sun Phoenix Edition. For ease of use to call people by phone since the Sun Phoenix Edition can answer all phone calls. It is in a blue protective case with the Sun Corporation / Halifax Logos on the back with a phoenix. Additionally, it has a massive storage capacity for music. - HT-9000-C Tracker Headset, Sun Phoenix Edition: The Sun Phoenix Tracker Headset is the top of the line for tracking Hattori Naomi’s exact GPS location by Satellite. Naomi’s location is only tracked outside NSF Headquarters or any location secured by the NSF. Compared to the Halifax Corporation’s Polaris Rouge series of Communication Tracker Headsets. However, it was specifically released to keep track of Naomi’s movements because her father, Hattori Akechi, is paranoid about losing his daughter to anything in NeoTokyo. Naomi uses this headset to wirelessly talk to people by connecting it to her Delta Pacer Edition Cellphone. Additionally, it can be wired into the Delta Pacer Edition Cellphone to turn it into a Music Device to listen to her large list of music on it. Its color is based on a phoenix’s colors before being reborn.
Augments:
- The Drai-865x Brain Mental Health Tracker: As the name implies, it tracks Naomi’s Mental Health, tied to the Multi-Function Inner Leg Implants. If her mental health ever decreases, this will send a direct single directly to the Implants to activate. The Drai Division specifically wants to keep track of her mental health issues and alter her intake of feelings, making her an experiment. - The Drai-956p Multi-Function Inner Leg Implants: As the name implies, these augments are directly inside of her legs, which surround her skeletal structure. It does different things when Naomi is on or off duty, which only happens if she needs it or her mental health decreases. It increases her adrenaline, metabolism, and boost, allowing her to run much faster for extended periods. However, its primary function is to ensure her mental health and immobilize her by shocking her entirely, but these shocks don’t affect the other Drai Division Augments within her body. Immobilization by pain is the best way to keep her on the right track of never having the relief of whatever her father doesn’t want her to have. The activation signal cannot reach the augment for her off-duty mode of it, as long as she’s within the NSF Headquarters. - The Drai-1235d Heart Monitor: The Drai Division developed a heart monitor to detect any specific problems with Naomi’s physical health and heart problems. VX-8500 Helmet has access to this heart monitor, which shows her physical health to doctors in hospitals, the corporation, or where she works.
Previous Careers: Sun Corporation, V-Trooper Trainer & Commander - Naomi trained and commanded the Alpha Division of V-Troopers in the art of Recon and Support (Jan. 9th, 2023 - August 5th, 2030) Sun Corporation, Integration Officer Lead - Naomi had to figure out how to integrate the V-Troopers into the Sun Corporation or transfer them to Guarri’s Establishments in the Red Light District. (May 8, 2017 - Jan. 8th, 2023)
Biography:
Hattori Naomi was born in Osaka on May 2, 2001, to the Hattori Family, who controls a corporation by the Sun Corporation's name. Akechi and his wife Mio controlled what they wanted for their daughter to be the poster child for their corporation. They disallowed her to change her last name because it's tradition to stay true to the Hattori Family name. Dishonoring your ancestors is what a coward would do, is what Akechi would tell her. In terms, it was a hellish existence living under a household that didn’t even like medicating their daughter for being not good enough and push for the better of the family as a whole.
Akechi constantly argued with his wife in front of Naomi, mostly about important business interests he had in the Capital. It would be hard for her to leave her childhood home, but the Hattori Family's needs outweighed what Naomi wanted. The Hattori family moved to the most northern part of Tokyo since the Sun Corporation's new headquarters is located. It was exactly on Feb 12, 2011, a year before the nuclear strike on Tokyo. Thankfully, when the strike happened exactly on the year anniversary of their moving to Tokyo since the nuke hit Tokyo's center. Akechi was heavily angry at the nuclear strike and blamed many factors and people, including his own child because she will always fail. However, he wasn’t so angry to disband his dealings with an American Corporation called the Halifax Corporation, which has been around for a long time in the United States since that Corporation could help him catch up to the Yamamoto Family and their Conglomeration.
Naomi had been getting slightly more depressed throughout her entire life within her family. However, there was a shining annoyance, as you can say, that happened on her 18th birthday when she met a two year older Japanese woman with an early midlife crisis. All Naomi wanted to do was deal with her frustrations by drinking her time away. However, this one woman wouldn’t allow her to and was incredibly blunt and straight to the point, while she had to uphold masks to keep herself somewhat normal. Her name was no other than the heiress to the Yamamoto Family, Mikasa. Naomi asked Mikasa why she was having a midlife crisis only at 20 years old. Mikasa’s reasoning for her midlife crisis is she has no idea what to do with people planning for her future when all she wants to do is work. Therefore, the way they basically dealt with this was by getting mythical creatures as tattoos; Naomi got the Phoenix, which has the meaning of a rebirth. In contrast, Mikasa got a massive dragon tattoo. These tattoos would take at least. Five or six trips to the tattoo artist to finish, since the guy was a perfectionist and wanted to give the heiresses the best tattoos they could get. All because of Mikasa’s generosity towards the tattoo parlor.
Five years later, Naomi was again approached by Mikasa, which was a bit shocking again. However, she spoke in a serious tone and asked her if she remembered getting that Phoenix tattoo. Naomi nodded to the question, which was odd, but then the oddest thing was what was said next. In terms of how blunt Mikasa was, if you want to have your own rebirth, you must marry the one who originally asked for your hand in marriage. It freaked out Naomi; how does Mikasa know about Nobunaga of all people, and why would she marry a person she’s outright terrified of because of how awful her father and mother were being.
Specifically, a year before this, they inserted cybernetic augments into her mind, legs, and heart for a safety precaution to keep her in a stable, neutral, balanced mental state. It was god awful, and it made her more afraid of her father and mother because of this reason. However, if Naomi ever wanted to feel something other than fear, sadness, and everything else, she would have to try. It doesn’t help that she felt like she would be happier with Nobunaga over what her parents said about him. Naomi didn’t really believe what her parents said because they always show their anger no matter what to her. Therefore, Naomi accepted, in all honesty, Mikasa’s proposal to marry Guarri Nobunaga, even though she still somewhat fears him.
Mikasa saw how Naomi looked, and she looked like she was carrying a baby for two whole months without even realizing it. It took Naomi by surprise, which would mean that she would have a daughter on July 8, 2024. Naomi had always wondered why she felt a bit more unstable, which she knew who gave her this child. The only person in her life who could’ve got her pregnant in Nov, which would be Guarri Nobunaga. It is a bit funny that her entire idea of wanting a child to dote over to be a better mother was right there, but she wasn’t really allowed to notice her body other than keeping it pretty.
Naomi and Nobunaga married the week after Mikasa’s approach to Naomi. Naomi can finally heal with someone who truly loves her, but she did tell Nobunaga that she was afraid of him. However, he was amazed that out of all the people to get Naomi and him together, it had to be the Yamamoto Heiress. Mikasa was at their wedding as one of Naomi’s only bridesmaids, which Mikasa felt so happy for the two finally becoming a couple. It wouldn’t be great to have a child in the environment with Akechi or Mio. Better to raise their daughter somewhere else.
Naomi had her daughter on July 8th, 2024, as she wanted. However, she tried to contact her mother, Mio, to wonder if they could finally reconnect, but Mio laughed in her ear and told her she’d never apologized to Naomi. Mio even told her that Mikasa told her that sooner or later, that she’ll die being a cruel bitch and never allowed to see heaven. Naomi was a bit irked and asked when Mikasa said all this. Mio told her daughter, it was two weeks before my pitifully weak and beautiful daughter married Nobunaga, in January of the same year. However, Mio hanged up after that, which really hurt Naomi much more harshly. However, five days later, she learned her mother died not a peaceful death, the only slight relief to the whole deal.
She had a definitely hard life throughout her childhood, but she finally got something to defend. Naomi wanted to defend what was precious to her, and when a certain group of individuals approached her from a strange organization. It was a Government Organization since they did say something about the Prime Minister in 2030. Naomi was surprised by this approach, but it was a good opportunity to protect her daughter and husband. It took her to join in August of that same year, a month after her daughter’s birthday. Unsurprisingly, Mikasa also joined the same day, when she saw her at the NSF HQ, sighed a bit and tried to go on her way.
Afterward, in November of 2031, many things were going on in the NSF, a scandal investigating native and foreign agents. However, gratefully she kept her record clean since she promised never to tell her child or husband about working for this organization. Guarri Nobunaga still had much more important dealings with his two locations in the Red Light District since the Guarri Establishments all over Japan is under control by him. However, the most precious of these locations are the Guarri Ace Strip Club and Guarri Queen Brothel.
Naomi isn’t like her father since she absolutely trusts her husband, but something about him is strange. It is like he is hiding something from her as much as she’s hiding something from him. However, Naomi has no idea what he is hiding from her since why would she investigate her husband for suspicious not telling her absolutely everything. It wouldn’t sit too well with her at all. Naomi tries her hardest to be friendly towards everyone, minus she has two sides of herself or two different masks.
Naomi has a hopeful future as long as nothing truly awful happens to Takai three months ago...
Affiliations:
Hattori Naomi had never really once had something to care for until she married and had her daughter Ayame with Nobunaga, her husband. This union was possible because of Yamamoto Mikasa, which gave her what she wanted after all the torment in her heart was unbearable to handle. Nobunaga knows where all this torment came from, which was her own parents, Mio and Akechi. However, Naomi could never reconcile with her mother because she died before anything could be repaired.
Naomi wants to be happy with her immediate family, daughter, and husband, but she’s massively worried about her daughter's future. It is why she wants to protect Ayame’s sensibilities and innocence by any means. Even though she's a bit haughty and has a cute attitude problem, this problem is mostly towards how much she loves her own parents. It is why she allows the V-Troopers of her father’s corporation to protect her daughter, and that goes double with her husband’s bodyguards.
The Hattori-Guarri Family created an alliance because of Mikasa, which is wonderful. Their primary thing to protect is Ayame from all threats to her. It is primarily because the Sun Corporation is involved with the Government and its Prime Minister Konno Mashai. All because they want to keep whatever policies the Prime Minister has stayed for Japan's sanctity, so the country doesn’t get nuclear attacked again like it did in 2012. However, they aren’t stupid enough to completely disown business deals with other countries’ corporations like the Halifax Corporation in California, US. Halifax Corporation is run by the O’Connell Family, which Akechi primarily deals with because of the joint ventures they want to deal in basically to get a leg up on their biggest rivals, the Hi-Karo Conglomeration owned by the Yamamoto family.
Guarri Nobunaga; Alive, Head of the Guarri Family (35 Years Old, Birth Year: June 3rd,1996)
Hattori-Guarri Ayame; Alive, Naomi & Nobunaga’s Daughter (7 Years Old, Birthday: July 8th, 2024)
Hattori Akechi; Alive, Naomi’s Father & Nobunaga’s Father-In-Law (62 years old, Birthday: March 1, 1969)
This is what Akechi looks like right now, which shows he’s still athletic compared to other older gentlemen in other countries worldwide.
Hattori Mio; Dead, Naomi’s Mother & Nobunaga’s Mother-In-Law (Age at Death, 57: July 13, 2024 | Birthday: January, 6, 1967)
This is the only picture of her mother, which is a much younger picture. Her mother in this picture is around the same age, before her daughter’s birth, and much happier. However, that changed since Mio hasn’t ever smiled since that picture.
Naomi was approached by a specific odd bunch of people asking her to join the NSF organization. It was an exciting meeting, so she joined the organization because she wanted to protect Ayame by any means necessary. Her practical skills were why Naomi had that meeting because it was based around recon and supporting others in the field. She would also keep their secrets away from her husband and daughter to protect them from any investigations by the organization she was about to join. It is about national security, and it would be a break to trust if she told her daughter or husband about that. It slightly annoyed her to realize the truths going on from behind the scenes, but her father’s corporation was supportive of the Prime Minister.
Naomi was heavily annoyed to learn that Yamamoto Mikasa joined simultaneously as her. August 8, 2030, was the date of joining the National Security Forces, a month after her daughter’s sixth birthday. Therefore, time passed in the NSF through each operation against the Jinrai, but some shocking events caused her to be slightly more annoyed. The NSF started to investigate its organization members, including Japanese natives and foreign agents, for specific tragedies. However, she kept her record clean since she never once told anyone what she was doing in the NSF to her family. However, she understood that the organization did need to be thorough, so no other leaks happen or otherwise. She was on a different assignment when the explosion injured Takai.
Additional Information: - Sun Corporation Heiress: As the Sun Corporation, Heiress has to deal with many things involving the V-Troopers. However, she is given much leeway even though she looks stunning and pretty seductive. In terms, Mikasa is like a model in her own family. Additionally, she’s given an allowance, even though she does work for the NSF now and get a proper wage compared to what she was getting paid in her family’s company. - Czech Super Car, Mosquito: She’s into cars that are faster than expected, basically supercars. However, she picked out the Super Car created by the Czech. - Naomi lives with her husband, who lives near his precious businesses in the Redlight District of NeoTokyo. However, their daughter isn’t there since it would be better to keep her out of danger. He owns a pretty nice home where he lives. - Has a slight understanding of English but would rather stay with Japanese. The Hattori Family sticks with their roots. She usually speaks in broken English, though. - Naomi carries a family photo of her, her husband, and their child with her in her wallet. To be reminded of how good she has it compared to what would have happened if Mikasa didn’t interfere.
Relationships (Optional):
Theme Song:
Helplessly - Tatiana Manaois Lyrics - When Naomi feels a bit lost and helpless and hopeless, her depression is quite bad since her parents have forced her to have two different personalities.
Nightwish - Wish I Had An Angel - Naomi’s Husband and daughter gives her the strength to feel the happiness she wanted after all the put-downs her parents gave her through the years.
Rammstein - Feuer Frei! - Naomi listens to this song while she’s doing her job as a Recon & Support Specialist for the NSF. It’s only because she enjoys listening to it during firefights against the Jinrai or other shady organizations.
