Foxtrot Maiko
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Little Miss Badass | |
| Foxtrot Maiko | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Arachnos Widow |
| Threat Level: | 50 |
| Identity | |
| Real Name: | Unknown |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Nationality: | Japanese |
| Occupation: | Ninja |
| Place of Birth: | somewhere in Japan |
| Base of Operations: | The Principality Formerly Known as Sealand |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | None |
| Physical Data | |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 16 |
| Height / Weight : | 5'1" / 115 lbs |
| Eye / Hair Color: | Brown / Black |
| Known Powers | |
| None | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Olympic-level athlete, martial artist, trained killer and infiltrator | |
| Equipment | |
| Vanguard stealth armor with integrated claws, throwing knives, jump pack | |
| ... | |
| Updated: 11/14/2011 - Player: @Megajoule | |
"There's nothing as pure and cruel as a child."
-- Jet Black, Cowboy Bebop: "Pierrot Le Fou"
Contents |
Affiliations
Foxtrot Company is the closest thing to a family that Maiko has ever known, and killing is the least of the things she would do to protect them. She is especially close to Foxtrot Juliet and to mentor and confidante RAI-DEN.
Maiko is also enthusiastic about working for Vanguard. In her eyes, it's the perfect arrangement - she gets to kill Rikti by the score, and they give her tickets and stuff for it!
She has ended her association with Sublime Razor, who was once her official bad influence and "shoulder devil", after learning of everything that the demoness did to set up her wayward not-so-evil daughter Ms. Exquisite Agony.
Personality
In some ways, Maiko is still a child in a rapidly maturing body. She approaches combat with fierce joy, more like a competition or game than a life-and-death struggle. Even today, with Foxtrot encouraging her moral development, she seldom hesitates to kill or maim anyone trying to stop her from reaching the mission objective. Meanwhile, the rest of her is going through a compressed and very intense delayed adolescence, full of questions and trying to figure out who and what she is besides a weapon. She tends to be solitary, moody, and quiet.
Like many Foxtrotters past and present, Maiko has accepted that she will never be entirely "normal" and doesn't really want to be. She'd settle for comfortable, content, and not so clueless.
Powers
Maiko has a slightly above-average psi rating, but still within the normal human range, and has not manifested any overt metahuman abilities.
Abilities
Maiko is extraordinarily quick, agile, and strong. She is an Olympic-level gymnast and sprinter, a deadly martial artist, and a good shot with a scoped rifle. She has been conditioned to ignore pain and fatigue for long periods. She has training and experience at operating alone or with a small mission team.
Weaknesses and Limitations
A partial list of things that Maiko never had or was deliberately deprived of, and which her time with Foxtrot has only begun to provide her with:
Awareness of popular culture, Japanese and American; social skills, including how to deal with the opposite sex; ice cream; soda; coffee; pizza; television; video games; music; happiness; education above the third-grade level; privacy, and respect for others'; trust; love and affection; freedom; a conscience.
Maiko's ignorance of things most take for granted leaves her gullible and vulnerable to manipulation, but those who take advantage of this do so at their own peril. She is also very dependent on the support of her adopted family. Her Eigo is still clumsy and even her Nihongo tends to be terse.
Equipment
Maiko has "traded up" from her original stealth suit (which no longer fits her) to Vanguard Sword stealth armor, which offers the additional protection of light impervium plating as well as full thermoptic camouflage. Her preferred hand-to-hand weapons, two sets of razor claws, have been integrated into the gauntlets; she also carries a brace of knife-type shuriken for those times when she just can't reach. A gravity-reducing jump pack augments her own considerable leaping ability.
Character History
From 1983 to 2008, the BUNRAKU Group existed at the shadowy intersection of Japan's government, military, and corporate/industrial interests. Believing that the best way to create black operatives was to start from scratch, they acquired promising children from orphanages all over Japan and raised, trained, and indoctrinated them to be infiltrators, saboteurs and assassins. These modern ninja were equipped with advanced stealth gear and all manner of spy gadgetry to aid them in their missions (which were as likely to be against a competing company or upstart politician as a foreign power). They were not issued, or permitted, names or privacy or rights. The agents were referred by numbers or, collectively, as ningyō (puppets); their handlers were, of course, ningyōzukai (puppeteers). Puppets who became too old, too injured, or too difficult to manage were "retired."
When Foxtrot Company finally kicked in the door of this operation, they were forced to put down far too many of the very people they'd come to save. Most of the older ningyō were completely brainwashed and defended their masters with fanatical, suicidal loyalty. One notable exception was found in a supply closet, tensely interposing herself between the intruders and a hapless janitor - the only person at the facility who'd ever shown her any kindness. The Company rescued the younger children, arranged for the janitor to start a new life somewhere far away from Japan, and set about deprogramming or at least redirecting the girl they dubbed the new Foxtrot Mike. (It came out more like "Maiko" when she said it, and that's what stuck.)
Crash courses in English, pop culture, junk food, and behaving like a human being followed. Foxtrot's acts of "terrorism" against child exploiters provided an outlet for Maiko's violent impulses, while their camaraderie offered the structure and security she needed. (Without the latter, she might have exploded like a sea creature brought up too swiftly from the crushing depths.) The others all had their own stories of abuse, and their awkward but sincere sympathy drew her out of the shell she'd needed to survive as a puppet.
Maiko has often been at odds with Foxtrot Charly on occasions when the actions of the Company's erstwhile leader threaten it - such as when Charly's true background came to light, or her future self seemed intent on disbanding the Company as a bad idea, leaving Maiko and the rest to fend for themselves. She was also very upset when Charly announced she was taking a leave of absence to have and raise a child (in Ouroboros quick-time); forced to accept that her "family" was growing up, and possibly breaking up, she broke down crying in Juliet's arms. She was able to compose herself enough before Charly's actual departure to wish her well.
Trivia
- Maiko's dialogue is almost always in all lowercase, unless she's very excited or angry.
- Though she often dances close to the line, she's more a self-serving rogue or ruthless anti-hero than a "true" villain. This allows her covert access to Paragon City for missions and shopping.
- Displays the "Black Ops" badge title.
