n a m e :: Eddie Wing
Street Handle: Manticore
d a t e & p l a c e o f b i r t h :: March 8th, 2026; Night City, California, United States of America
A p p e a r a n c e :: Take a map of Europe and throw a dart. That's where Eddie's genetics are from, under the Street patina. He's a scrawny 5'9", maybe 150 sopping wet, and
lean. That same underfed frame hides whipcord muscle. He keeps his dark hair too short to grab by habit. His nose has been broken and re-set enough times that it's starting to go crooked, and he's missing a tooth or two. He doesn't have any chrome on him, but he does have a little bit of ink on one arm: Spinal Cracker, In Memorium.
He dresses as any product of his upbringing can- poorly. Castoffs, scraps; he saves the complete outfits for while he's on the job. The two constants are the ratty backpack filled with tools, parts, and Spiderbots, and a pair of workboots whose best days are long past.
G e n d e r :: Male
O c c u p a t i o n :: Drone & Vehicle Specialist
S k i l l s :: Wheelman- If it rolls, rumbles, has rotors, or otherwise gets folk from A to B, Eddie can drive- just put him behind the controls. All the better if it happens to have some artillery.
Gearhead- Mechanisms just
fit in Eddie's head, weather it's the precise servo configuration in Leah's legs, Bozo's jaws, or fixing a transport. There's
some overlap with limb replacements and the like, but Eddie's sure as shit not a doc.
C h r o m e ::AMD B4-99910 Nuralware Processor- Hardly new, but more than powerful enough to get the job done. AMD's Nuralware has long been a favorite in certain circles thanks to the company's long-standing commitment to Open Source firmware. Eddie's rig is optimized for drone control- sensory uplink, motor control, fire control, the works.
Agni Robotics Multinational (defunct)
Leopard Drone #D231-S1 "Leah"- Heavily modified quadrupedal, Feliform drone. Standing three feet tall at the shoulder, weighing approximately 270 pounds, and measuring just over six feet from snout to tail, the
Leopard drone was designed to supplement or replace existing Private and Public assets currently engaged in the field. Standard features include Thermal and X-ray Optics, Variable Optical Magnification up to 30x, Retracting Monomolecular claws and fangs, 7.62x39 Automatic Weapon hidden in the drone's "throat," all protected by ARM's patented Ceramite Scale Armor System®, available in a variety of finishes- this unit is brushed nickel. Aftermarket modifications include: Whisper quiet servos, Optical Camouflage, Neural Net personality emulation.
C&M Systems (defunct)
Doberman Drone, Law Enforcement Variant "Bozo"- Rebuilt from scratch, this quadrupedal, Caniform drone was originally marketed to law enforcement outfits to lukewarm sales. The civilian "home defense" version released six months later didn't help, killing C&M Systems hard. The main issue was that the official product finishes were all firmly in a canine version of the Uncanny Valley. They didn't move right, the fur was wrong, and they made so much noise when they moved. Those issues have mostly been fixed in Eddie's refit- new firmware, coupled with Nural Net personality emulation cleared up the movement; the faux-fur covering was entirely replaced by a carbon fiber wrap, entirely eschewing the attempt at verisimilitude. The replacement servos aren't nearly as quiet as Leah's but they're a massive improvement. Besides, when a 300 pound mass of steel is sprinting at you, you
should be able to hear it.
Spiderbots- Small, disposable, disc shaped drones (about the size of a tuna can), generally with six or more flexible limbs, designed and fabricated entirely by Eddie. They can be outfitted with different tool and sensor sets as needed, or fitted with explosives.
h i s t o r y :: Eddie never knew his parents. Early days, he was on The Street. It was tough out there for a kid mostly on his own. He'd maybe tag along with a group for a couple weeks, 'till the constant bickering and fighting got real, and somebody nearly shanked somebody over an insult or a shoe, or a scrap of food. He'd maybe try and find a squat somewhere that'd keep him outta the rain and the rads. It was one of those times that he met Brent.
Brent was the closest thing to a father Eddie ever had. Eddie broke into Brent's squat- a mechanic's workshop attached to an abandoned multi-level parking structure- looking for a spot to wait out the rain, maybe find some food. He found a home instead. Brent was a Netrunner, old school, 'Deck and all. Tried to get Eddie into it, even buying Eddie his Nuralware. Eddie tried, but he was always more interested in the hardware, mechanisms. "Practical stuff," he called it. Brent took Eddie along on physical runs from time to time, too- using the little machines that Eddie'd later dub the spiderbots as access points to paydata that couldn't be accessed through the Net alone.
Then Brent died. Should've been a simple snatch 'n grab, but somebody hadn't done their legwork properly. The server they were infiltrating was secured against physical attacks too. There was another Netrunner waiting for them. Whoever they were knew what they looking at when
they saw Brent's deck, used it to execute a classic "halt & catch fire" on Brent's grey matter. Maybe they thought the drone was just an access device, maybe they thought it was nuralware, but that confusion saved Eddie's life. The drone crisped long before Eddie did, and he bugged out with Brent's corpse in the passenger seat.
After that, he swore off Netrunning, "I'm just a wheelman. Those days are over."
So there he was, 15, alone again. He had that mechanic's workshop, still had that transport. Only knew one way to make cash, so Manticore played wheelman. In his spare time, he worked on his spiderbots, limiting the bandwidth, finding more fragile bits, just in case anybody smart tried to fry him. Then he found Bozo.
The spiderbots were gadgets, distractions, toys. Bozo was a weapon. A way to get back out there, safely, keep a closer eye on whoever he was running with that day, a way to exert pressure. And Bozo got to come along on the Agni Robotics job.
It was pretty obvious in hindsight that somebody was meddling. Every major drone release had something go wrong with it.
Dobermans like Bozo were unsettling to be around, hoverdrones just couldn't quite crack the battery life problem, and rovers were pretty much exclusively for bomb disposal. Along came Agni Robotics, preparing their break out into an underdeveloped market. Eddie and a team were hired to destroy them- Net presence, research material, prototypes, research staff- full scorched earth. So Agni burned.
They got paid for that job, the team in funds, Eddie in Leah.
That was two years ago. Now, Biotechnica's looking to line Eddie's pocket. Well, why not. Could finally wind up financing that drastically oversized gun he's been wanting to put in Bozo for a while now.
Never had much chance to be picky with my food.
Week-old pizza. What? Shit gets rank.
Freelance Deniable Asset.
Leah 'n Bozo. Home.
Cops, corrupt Cops, Corpsec. Anybody who tries to take anything of mine.
I do a job, I get paid, Everybody moves on.
You gotta learn to defend what's yours damn quick out there, and to make sure there ain't any strings attached to handouts.
Gear and Chrome are golden, but skills are what matter.
I follow plans, don't scare easy, ain't afraid to speak up when somebody's fuckin' up, and ain't nobody in the scene does what I do.
I'm alot more meat than most guys in this line of work.
Not much handy with a gun- I know the basics: which end to hold, which end to point at the guys shootin' at me, just don't expect me to hit what I'm aimin' at if it's my meat doin' the aiming.
This is more corp bull, and everyone you're "interviewing" knows it.