Barbara Mao

Company of Ordinary People
Leader of the Bannin of the House of Yizhi

Description


~Barb stands tall and proud, the epitome of the saying: “good guys don’t hide”. She often wears dark colors, casual attire or otherwise. But when involved on a “mission”, she will wear black cottons and leathers. In her late 20s or early 30s, her slender and well-toned physique still fits anything very well. Slacks, shoes, and long-sleeved shirts make up most of her wardrobe. She does not have a purse, favoring a wallet and pockets. She usually wears a light jacket, if even just a windbreaker. The only skin Barbie with which deems to favor onlookers is her attractive neck and face. Long, smooth hair cascades like onyx past her brown eyes that glitter with untamable lightning.~

OOC: Appearance 3

"If your conscience bugs you about something but your heart craves it, give it a shot. If the voice grows quiet, your heart was in the right place. If the voice in your head gets louder and more persistent, your heart was wrong and it’s time to atone. Don’t be the sort so proud someone has to make you atone. Such a waste of good bullets."

History


Youth

Barbara Mao was born in Kansas City, 1968. The only child of Lo Mao and Rebecca Gordon. Mao was an immigrant from Beijing and an official advisor to the US Government on foreign affairs. Rebecca Gordon was a reputable analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency assigned to handling data collected on Chinese immigrants in Little Asia. This was back in the 60s and early 70s, and the “Red Scare” was still very much present. The Cold War was at full steam, and “Commie spies” could be anyone. Though they used to travel a great deal due to their jobs, Rebecca’s pregnancy earned her maternal leave. Once settled into office life in Kansas City, Rebecca never left the country or even city again. Lo Mao retired from the Foreign Service and bought an empty building in Little Asia. He had it renovated for a restaurant. Though not a chef himself, he hired cooks and soon what would later be renamed to Wong’s Diner was born. While overseeing the finances of the young business, he helped raise Barbara at home. He taught her a little bit about the martial arts he studied - choy li fut wushu.

So Barb grew up in the Midwestern city like most kids her age. She went to the public school systems in the Little Asia area and consequently suffered little racism. Outside of the district, however, bigotry thrived, and she often saw its ugly face. It only hardened her will, however. As Barbie (as her friends called her) entered puberty, she became an avid athlete and academic in school. Possessing a natural grace, she was drawn to gymnastics and was a champion of her high school team. She excelled in most scholastics, mostly social sciences. And finally, she was a skilled trumpeter in the band. Though she preferred jazzists like Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong, her talent with the instrument made her the lead performer in her class. Overall, Barbara Mao showed great promise.

Early Years

When she graduated high school in 1986, she entered the Kansas City University in search of a degree in Law. However, her studies into criminology changed her interest and major. She earned only an Associate’s Degree in criminology when her mother’s connections in the CIA got her an opportunity. Though her parents were a bit leery, they knew their daughter was strong enough to hack it. And Barbie sure did. She entered the training and education of the CIA and passed with flying colors.

Demonstrating extra skill on the firing range, the agency drew on her obvious aptitude and expanded. She would make a fine addition to the agency’s hitmen…err, security detail. She was taught all the finer details of infiltration and elimination. At age 22, Barbara Mao was serving in Southeast Asia, her unit providing clandestine aid to the “War on Drugs”.

But most of Barbara’s duties disappointed the young woman. She thought she’d be gathering intelligence, as it were. All she found herself doing was protecting her chapter’s chief officers like a bodyguard, and performing missions that protected their…err, rather, the agency’s and country’s best interests. These missions almost always entailed the elimination of some Southeast Asian drug runner or the like. Worse, she had to deal with her superiors’ sexist attitude. Though never directly sexual, she detected tasteless innuendo at times in their gestures, expressions, or comments. It sickened her, particularly since she observed that the same individuals spent time with local hookers.

The CIA’s goals in that part of Asia were always obscure to the President. In Southeast Asia, times had little changed since the era of the Cold War. The agency had more leeway in troubled nations like Thailand, Kampuchea, Laos, and Viet Nam. As a bottom level agent, Barbara certainly wasn’t privy to the real purpose of the agency’s covert operations. Nevertheless, she made good progress in her chosen career.

Of course, in the CIA, it’s not what you know but who you know. At every opportunity, she cozied up to fellow agents and associates. She never demeaned herself though, so because so many agents in her unit were of the infamous “good ol’ boys” legacy, she made few friends there. Only Jimmy Vu, a computer data analyst and hacker extraordinaire, became a friend, and her most trusted associate in the whole region. Her cool and no-nonsense “femme nikita” veneer was shed only for DEA officer, Charles Cassidy, who found her keenly intelligent and talented (and sorely undervalued!). Charlie was her romantic interest til a Laotian druglord’s hit squad decided to show some brass and did a drive-by on he and his DEA entourage en route from the consulate to their headquartars in Vientiane. Charlie survived the assault, but his injury demonstrated his compromised capacity to serve in that area of the world and he was shipped back to the States to recuperate and take up a desk job. Barbie was glad to serve in the US’s covert retaliations that removed that druglord from his power (and his life). The attack on the DEA always troubled Barbara, though, because she knew how careful and smart Charlie was. There was no leak in his department, and he was certainly no amateur. Sure, the Laotians could have stumbled across the opportunity by sheer luck, but Barb’s never been a naïve girl…

Later Years

In early 2000, however, the sliver of doubt left her mind when her unit uncovered a right wing extremist group’s conspiracy in Viet Nam to assassinate the President of the United States during his last visit before elections. Economic relations between Viet Nam and the US had been lightening up for years and this hard-line Communist group evidently didn’t like what it saw. To “teach the imperialists a lesson”, they intended to bomb the streets of Hanoi and rain gunfire on the president’s entourage. The terrorists were certainly surprised when the entourage stopped short of the bomb-lined street and their sniper positions were coolly overrun by a team of operatives. Barbara was the agent sent down to the street to inform the Secret Service that all was clear and that they should go down the next street. She convinced the leading Secret Serviceman, Roy Cale, of the danger of the ambush when a sniper who escaped the teams rushed the entourage with an assault rifle. Barb’s cool reaction and steady arm took the man down before he so much as scratched the paint of the first car in line. Cale was duly impressed.

By sending Barbara down to the exposed streets, “the lamb to the slaughter”, her beloved teammates had given her the opportunity to cozy up to even higher officials. Cale recommended she receive a Presidential Commendation and the agency agreed so long as it was kept quiet. Of course, the President thanked all of the agents involved, but the award went to “the bravest agent under fire”, Barbara Mao. She shook hands with the President and though she politely turned down Cale’s offer of a job in the Secret Service, he was still pleased and impressed with her performance. Though Barb was making good and useful friends, she still did not fully trust her unit. Her direct colleagues were by and large little more than well-dressed thugs. Her chief officials stank of deceit. And her evident “ethical inflexibility” only made sure she was kept out of the true story.

However, she would find out what the agency’s secrets in Southeast Asia were. Later in 2000, she received an elimination mission upon which to embark. Unusually, they assigned a partner. Barbara was not pleased. These kinds of assignments she did alone. It allowed her to approach her targets more…sensitively. She just didn’t feel comfortable, particularly since her partner assigned was Michael “Mikey” Louis. He was the quintessential agency “spook”, little better than a thug. The hit went off smoothly, particularly well seeing how the target was a corrupted police official and the drug runners with which he was meeting.

But something didn’t feel right to Barbara about the operation. Call it a hunch, she decided to do the unthinkable and unwise -- she snooped around her bosses’ offices. Though she didn’t find anything incriminating, she was not convinced. In the chief official’s computer table, she uncovered a small safe, which upon seducing proved to house a few clips of cash (which she left alone) and a password. The password she brought to Jimmy Vu, the computer analyst, hacker, and all-around brainiac. And he deduced that it was a computer password. Sure enough, his skills let him hack into the boss’s computer from Jimmy’s own terminal. And what they discovered shocked them both…

It turns out that the CIA’s maneuverings against Southeast Asian druglords were for political reasons namely. The “War on Drugs” was showing no results and getting expensive. To demonstrate results to the American people, the CIA was actually cleaning out the cluttered assortment of drug dealers in Southeast Asia - letting the most powerful druglords consolidate their power. And of course, chief officials in the agency involved in this were taking nice bribes from these druglords. So while Southeast Asia’s drug operations grew stronger and more expansive, the South American druglords were faced with stiffer competition than ever. Accordingly, their prices rose and buyers were lost. They became more desperate to make their own ends meet, and made mistakes -- allowing for more US and local government success in shutting them down permanently. So, Americans learned of the growing success of the “Drug War” -- even if it was only in South America.

Naturally, Barb brought the data to the attention of her unit officials’ superiors in Asia. While they did not doubt the validity of the data, the agency didn’t want this sort of problem. Obviously, Barb’s bosses were furious. Were it not for her impeccable record and high commendations, they would have considered having her assassinated. Their own superiors would have none of it. They forced Barbara and Jimmy Vu to resign. Michael Louis was the agency’s “fall guy”, however, and was dishonorably disavowed and dismissed. Louis hates Barbara with a vengeance to this day. Jimmy went to work for Apple Computers. She and Jimmy both intended to resign from the CIA anyway after that mess.

Recent Years

Barbie returned to America, fully disgusted with the government at this point. She could have joined the Secret Service or DEA with her contacts and experience and skills. Instead, she moved to Los Angeles. With the money she saved, she opened a gun shop calling it “Security & Hobbies”. She sold all manner of legal weapons as well as providing (still legal) modifications to citizens who wanted their firearms repaired or improved. Everything she did in her line of work was in accordance to California and Federal law, and the ATF found no issues with her business. But it only took a couple years before she decided this wasn’t the life for her either. Mainly, the violence of the city turned her off. So in 2002, Barbie closed up shop and decided to return home to Kansas City and Little Asia.

Sure, she knew this city was like any other urban environment. There was violence. But her memory held true -- the violence of Kansas City still pales in comparison to Los Angeles. Although Barbara’s parents had since moved out to Daytona, Florida for retirement, she knew many people in the area. She would soon feel back at home. Her only worry -- what to do for a living now. The answer was obvious - what she knew best. So Barbie intends to reattain state and federal licenses and reopen her gunshop. Although unaware of the danger of the supernatural, Barbie’s perspective helps any shen comrades she may make of the danger “mere mortals” can always present.

Significant Other


In December of 2006, Rikki Willards visited Barbie’s gun shop to purchase gunpowder for her demolition fascinations. Barbie engaged Rikki out of suspicion of criminal activity, but soon learned Rikki was just an off-beat former bomb squad expert for the Kansas City police department. Their friendship took off to regions Barbie never expected after drunken revelry revealed Rikki’s lesbian leanings…and Barbie’s own interest in experimentation. Barbie soon decided to take Rikki as her partner in romance as well as in the gun shop…and any future bounty hunting missions.

Rikki

Weakness
Unawareness


Barbie doesn't have a clue about the "Hidden World" of the shen. Even when and if she does learn about the supernatural, she will never truly understand that aspect of the world. That will prove a bane to herself and any supernatural allies she may make.

Likelihood of Corruption

Average.

Barbara is a gallant and honorable woman despite her past profession (and that's partly why it is a past profession). Mundane temptations have little sway over her. However, her lack of awareness and understanding of the supernatural makes her naive to the threat that Yomispawn and its ilk can have on her psyche and soul.



Links

Character Stats

Character Profiles

The Coalition of Little Asia

E-mail me!

Main Character Hub

Back to Game Hub