Smike

~ Valkyria Chronicles - Changing of the Guard (Continued) ~ Interest Check

out of curiosity, how many people do you think works for a squad number? @LetMeDoStuff

~ Valkyria Chronicles - Changing of the Guard (Continued) ~ Interest Check

It’s usually better to ignore yam anyway

~ Valkyria Chronicles - Changing of the Guard (Continued) ~ Interest Check

Wow hey look it me

NEOTOKYO - Shadow Conflict [Open!]

It was barely a minute into their introduction to one another and Kaz was already fantasizing about silencing Yukako with a hand around her throat. The way her words seemed to run on and on without a break for punctuation or air, long sentences trailing off into incomplete thoughts before doubling back to pick them up again a few words later, little idiosyncrasies that combined into one big fucking problem. While the spacey ditz fumbled this way and that through the conversation Kaz did her best to grit her teeth and bear it.

"Kaz is fine."

All those suffixes denoting societal standing were extras that irked her, chaff to be discarded whenever possible. Respect was something communicated through action anyway, not bending over backwards to find the right combination of words.

It felt like a minor miracle when the assault officer managed to get onto a single topic without jumping to the next and Kaz repaid the favor by actually listening. An actual directed energy weapon that doesn't just blow up in the user's hands? She was excited to see it in action. Well not actually excited but there was a brief spark of approval somewhere deep in the drug drenched recesses of her mind.

There was a bit of herself in the way Yukako gushed over her pet project, a resemblance to the person Kaz had been back before she had thrown her future away. It had been easy to get her rambling about whatever robotics project or hypothetical augment she was working on, all those doodles and notes she had scrawled down in notebook after notebook. She still remembered a time when she had taken pride in her technical aptitude.

Looking back on the achievements and accolades she had earned just made Kaz bitter now but she could at least recognize when an innovation had merit. Or at least more merit than whatever the heiress-turned-agent was still blubbering on about.

The American opened her mouth to ask a question but was cut off by the voice of the Director. An operation then, what Kaz had been simultaneously waiting for and dreading. She headed off towards the briefing room at the pace of a lumbering bear: slow in the moment perhaps but capable of both surprising speed and shocking violence.
-----

Dai was at the door to the briefing room a few seconds before Kaz managed to make it, deft fingers punching in her name, rank and identification number so that she could be let in The NSF's HQ had all sorts of redudant security measures, proccesses that must have cost millions upon millions of yen in total. The fact that even with all the cloak and dagger sci-fi secrecy Japan's secret police still managed to hire a Yakuza assassin upset Dàiyù more than it should have. This was what her taxes paid for?

The whole organization was porous, hiring Americans mercenaries while Jinrai spies made a mockery of it security protocols. Its agents lacked loyalty one way or another (herself included) and would soon find itself in crisis if something wasn't done. But that wasn't her problem. Dai was there to indulge her addiction to adrenaline while making sure that her organization stayed out of the crosshairs. While the Yakuza had a history of allying with or hiding behind far-right groups it had yet to connect itself with the Jinrai in any meaningful way which meant that there wasn't even really a conflict of interest for NeoTokyo's deadliest entrapenuer.

Dai kept her critical musings to herself as she entered the briefing room, still playing the part of a patriot. "Good morning Director." She gave the required greeting in perfect Japanese, the New England taint present in her English not crossing the language barrier. Other ops personnel were streaming in and none of them were worth engaging with at the moment. If someone addressed her then she'd reply but until then she was content to wait for information.

@BCTheEntity @Conscripts

NEOTOKYO - Shadow Conflict [Open!]

There were too many people both in the lounge and centered around Kaz. It was like dealing with pigeons: the first one had shown up then a second and a third and before too long there'd be a whole flock of them cooing, cawing, ruffling their feathers and making nuisances of themselves. Cait had stumbled onto the conversation as Takai was making his exit, trading pointless questions and observations about the bureaucracy of paramilitary life. Annoying yes but bearable if only because she was another English speaker.

Then it was Yukako, the new girl Kaz was only barely aware of. In all honesty she had registered not as a face or name but as a presence. There had been an empty room that Kaz sometimes walked past and maybe two days ago it had suddenly not been empty. Yukako had addressed her using one of those stupid honorifics that had little reason to exist and it took all of Kaz's will not to snap at her. "Hey. I'm doing okay."

Look at her playing nice with annoying strangers, following the rules instead of just snapping at the shorter woman.

There wasn't time to follow up before Naomi shoved her way into the conversation. This new interruption was handled with noticeably less grace than the previous two. "Who the fuck is Shunshun?" She asked in English, unwilling to make the shift into her non native language."Do you mean Takai? Cuz you just missed him."

Who even was this woman? Naomi something or other, one of the mega billionaires that were hanging around the NSF like fucking tourists. Why two obscenely wealthy women were pretending to be soldiers Kaz would never understand. Dai at least had a military history but as far she knew this socially inept little heiress (and little was the perfect word for her) had worked as a glorified security guard."Next time can you wait before just barging in?"

You dumb cunt.

The last part went unsaid thanks to sheer effort. Kaz turned her focus back on the new girl and went on with the introductions. "So Yu, what's your job around here?"
-----


Going to the range was a formality at this point in Daiyu's life. With all her years of practice and the highly expensive augments crammed into her body it was simply impossible to miss a paper target unless she wanted to. The sterile noncombat conditions lacked any distractions to contend with or civilians to watch out for, no tricky cover that might deflect a stray bullet into some poor noncombatant. Everything that could have made the situation interesting had stripped away so that there was no point in bothering.

So why even show up? Because at the moment there was simply nothing better she could be doing. The National Security Force had one major similarity with her careers in the Yakuza and JSDF: there was a lot of hurry up and wait. She had to be on base on the off-chance there was some need for a sniper and until there was some need for a sniper she'd be stuck on base. Target practice was something to pass the time and if Japan was paying for the bullets there was no reason not to use them.

She could have sought out some of her fellow agents but what was the point in that? Most of them were boring, straight laced career military types who had bigger boots than they did brains. There were a few interesting ones here and there but most of them fell into the same category of blind patriotism or pressing need to feel like they were making a difference.

So Dàiyù kept shooting. The rest of the magazine was emptied while she was watched by one of the Americans that were infesting the NSF like rats. Which one was he, Chris? Yes that was him, the Army man with poor Japanese. Well if a Yankee likes my shooting then it must be incredible."

She had responded in perfect English, her accent vaguely New Englander thanks to the influence of a tutor from Massachusetts."How's it going, Rambo?" Typical American special forces guys got American action hero names, she didn't make the rules.

The Director's voice came as unexpected but not unwelcome surprise, Dai slipping her pistol back into its holster before motioning to Chris. "Walk and talk with me? Im curious about why someone would join the NSF only to spend three months riding the bench." She chuckled as if to show the jab had been in good faith. Chris was an interesting one, an outlier due to his nationality. If Dai could figure out some of what made him tick the day would be a success.

@MK2 @Landaus Five-One @BCTheEntity

NEOTOKYO - Shadow Conflict [Open!]

2 PM, Wednesday. The middle of the day, the middle of the week, everything outside still grey and damp from the earlier rain. Kaz felt no need to go outside and look at the storm's aftermath. She could already imagine the reflections of neon drenched skyscrapers shining in the puddles, shimmering water collecting in gutters like so much oil. It had been the same in Washington, Moscow, Bogota, every major city she had lived or worked in. This brave new world was one of steel and glass, one where there was less space for cultural differences than ever before. There was no real difference between skylines, not anymore.

She could remember when there had been. Places like Los Angeles and New York had always been sprawling metropolises but there had been enough subtle differences in layout and culture to differentiate the two. Now they shared the same structure and pollution, the same overly wealthy assholes and desperate poor separated by only a few blocks. Monuments to human misery, goblets of greed that were forever running over and staining wider society. Where they went so did everywhere else, and they were going straight to hell.

Goddamnit.

She was doing it again, that thing where she'd become absorbed in self-righteous philosophizing. One of the side effects of her getting deep fried in its own chemicals was the tendency to engage in sanctimonious bullshit. Or more accurately, the emotionally damaged state she had been left in lent itself to misanthropic musing of the worst kind. It was important to nip those thoughts in the bud. Kaz might not have been able to be happy but she refused to sink to the level of the wannabe Nietzsches and nitwit nihilists of the world.

2:03 PM now, time to get out. Breakfast was a bite of the stale granola bar she found in her pocket as she slipped into the NSF and a cigarette that slid neatly into the corner of her mouth as she left her quarters. There was a scrape of rubber against linoleum as she moved towards the main hall, the great bear of a woman traveling at speed as she always did. There was a corner coming up and Kaz took it recklessly, rounding right into a poor staff member.

With more than a foot of height and maybe a hundred pounds of weight differing between them it was little surprise that the secretary or analyst or whatever she was got knocked off of her feet with a yelp, scattering papers across the floor. The only admission of wrongdoing she got from Kaz was an apologetic grunt and a puff of smoke, the American moving on without even a word.

She moved into the crush of people despite herself, forced to interact with other people in an attempt to feign normalcy. She would grit her teeth and bear the weight of socialization, let the sedatives in her system keep her from lashing out. She could do this. It was routine, normal, unimportant for anyone normal. The trick was to scan for anyone she knew was bearable, one of the few "friends" whose presence she could stand.

And who did Kaz spy but Takai, back from his medical absence with shiny new limbs. He'd do.

"Hello Takai, glad to see you moving around again."

Her Japanese might have improved during his absence by her dead eyed stare was the same, punching right through her comrade even as she extended a hand for him to shake. Somethings could just never change.

-----


Every part of Dàiyù's body hurt. Her muscles were sore from getting through a glass table, her head was pounding thanks to a combination of too many stimulants and not enough sleep. Hell even her metal arm was acting up, a phantom pain tricking her brain into thinking it had the old flesh and bone limb again. Side effects of her busy schedule the past few evenings no doubt.

The ride from the slum apartment she had crashed in to the NSF's headquarters gave Dai time to recollect and refocus herself. The rumbling roar of the secondhand motorcycle beneath her was a pleasant backdrop for her thoughts, letting her lay out jumbled memories without having to focus too much on them. Let's see here...

What had she been up to last night? There was the banquet to raise money for some kind of good cause, the funds going to a charitable donation run by a Mr. Maeda. Mr. Maeda was of course not real and his organization was no more than a front but the guests that knew that wouldn't have cared. Lots of boring conversations with boring socialites made bearable by the subtle abuse of downers.

After wiggling away from that charade she had gotten herself a bite to eat and switched outfits, swapping out the elegant dress and heels of Li Dàiyù for the battered mask and armor of the Fox. Everything from that point on was a little fuzzy, the particulars made hazy and high pitched by the amphetamines she had taken before getting started. There had been more paranoia than usual, a tense climb up to a fifth story window and then a simple matter of breaking into a safe. But she was pretty sure something had gone wrong sooner or later.

The bike hit a bump in the road and Dai was forced to fight for control, kicking her heel against the curb to save herself from wiping out. Balance was restored and she was back on the road with hardly a dip in speed, no harm no foul. The jolt had even shaken the dregs of drug induced sleep from her head, reminding her of why her back still felt like shit.

The loser she was stealing from had come home while she was busy reading through the documents she snatched out of his "hidden" safe and he had been none too pleased to see her. Did he know that she had been sent by the men he had been ripping off for months or did he just think she was an eccentric thief stumbling upon sensitive info. Probably the latter, he was just an associate that got ideas above his station not an actual gangster. Either way he had managed to put her through a glass table before she could get a hand around his throat. He died defiantly sure, but died nonetheless.

Case closed, time to rush home for a few hours sleep before heading for the old day job. Which of course was where she was now, puling into her usual spot in the garage and grabbing her bag to change. A couple nods to the mechanics taking care of the force's vehicles and she was inside heading for the lockers. With her helmet and jacket stuffed away Dai was ready for work.

Work was perhaps a strong word since there wasn't exactly an assignment for her to be doing but she had at least clocked in. For the time being she'd take up position at the range. It was a simple manner to sign in and get her gun, a no frills pistol that shot straight and didn't jam. There were no gimmicks or gadgets attached, it relied on her skill and her skill alone to function.

How convenient then that she had skill in spades.

The first two shots landed right on target, punching neat hole through the head of the paper bad guy she was shooting at. A third and fourth found their way into the chest. Shooting was second nature at this point, made easier by the advanced optics in her eyes. If she ever had to face someone who stood perfectly still and didn't shoot back she'd be more than ready. An actual combat situation would still be a crapshoot, no matter how much training or expensive had been crammed into her.

@LetMeDoStuff

NEOTOKYO - Shadow Conflict [Open!]

Dai

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

Augments

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.

NSF Gear

Weapons

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.

Armor

NSF Recon Armor:Standard issue recon gear, light enough to move in and strong enough to keep its wearer alive. Probably.

Moonlighting Equipment

Bag of Tricks

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.

Weapons

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)

Relationships [Optional]
TBD

Character Theme [Optional]
TBD

NEOTOKYO - Shadow Conflict [Open!]

Dai

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

Augments

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.

NSF Gear

Weapons

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.

Armor

NSF Recon Armor:Standard issue recon gear, light enough to move in and strong enough to keep its wearer alive. Probably.

Moonlighting Equipment

Bag of Tricks

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.

Weapons

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)

Relationships [Optional]
TBD

Character Theme [Optional]
TBD

Smike's Sheets

Dai

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

Augments

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.

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.

NSF Gear

Weapons

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.

Armor

NSF Recon Armor:Standard issue recon gear, light enough to move in and strong enough to keep its wearer alive. Probably.

Moonlighting Equipment

Bag of Tricks

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.

Weapons

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
-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)

Relationships [Optional]
TBD

Character Theme [Optional]
TBD

Smike's Sheets

Weapons

Pistols
Halifax Model 7:
New Nambu Model 22
Hewitt Bullstopper

Submachine Guns
Minebea PM10
H&K MP8
Sterling 2026

Shotguns
Beneli M5
DX-12 PDW
Sun Corp Sentinel

Assault Rifles
Behring P8-AR
Howa Type 20
Ak 6

Sniper/Designated Marksmen Rifles
Voere VEC-21
M40 EMR
CheyTac Arbitration

Light Machine Guns
H&K MG6
Sumitomo M3
M304 LMG

Rocket/Grenade Launchers
Arc Underbarrel Attachment
Odysseus SMDS
Milkor Super MGL