Dancing Joker
Sarna News
His real name is unknown, the Dancing Joker (b. 30?? - D. 17 February 3067) is most commonly referenced code-name of quite possibly the best professional assassin in the Inner Sphere, most notably assassinating Melissa Steiner-Davion and Omi Kurita.
Description
He is of average size and weight. He is of neither asian, nor african descent. His hair is straight and probably black.
He has no morals and doesn't mind killing anybody. He regards himself as an unstoppable force of nature.
He is a master of disguise and regularly creates false persona as cover. This goes so far, as he rigorously adopts the character of the person he impersonates. For example, he only smiles, if there's a reason for his role to smile. And he doesn't show emotion when eating something delicious, when his role is used to eating this.
History
His first famous victim was Melissa Steiner-Davion, the Assassin being hired by her daughter Katherine Steiner-Davion to kill her. With the knowledge that her favourite flower was Mycosia pseudoflora, genetically-engineered versions of the Mycosia blossoms which Hanse Davion had shipped to Terra for his and Melissa's wedding years before, the Assassin adopted the cover identity of a florist hired to outfit a banquet on Tharkad she was attending.
Creating garden pottery out of plastic explosives, the bombs to be triggered by detonators linked to water absorption timers, the Assassin was able effortlessly get them past Melissa's security detail, arming the detonators by simply watering the flowers. On the 19th of June, 3055, with the pots holding her beloved flower arrayed seemingly as a tribute, the explosives killed Melissa Steiner-Davion instantly during a live broadcast throughout the Inner Sphere, also taking the life of Salome Ward and maiming her husband Morgan Kell. Her death was keenly felt by all, made worse turned the fragments of the pots became deadly scrapnel and preventing an open casket funeral.
Crown-Prince Victor Steiner-Davion succeeded in capturing his mother's assassin, however as a example of the morally gray world he'd been thrust into, Victor found he had to call his skills himself in 3056. With evidence at that time pointing to Ryan Steiner as the mastermind behind Melissa's death, while recovering from the car accident arranged by MIIO to capture him, the Assassin agreed to assassinate Steiner, realizing that it would provide a possible openning to escape. Using a sniper rifle, the Assassin killed Steiner while he was talking with his personal assistant Sven Newmark, before dispatching his wardens and escaping via a pre-arranged cover identity of budist monk.
Attempting to lay low on Zurich in the Sarna March after his escape, the Assassin's next cover identity was dragged into the counter-insurgency against Capellan backed terrorists in 3057. Adopting the alias Dancing Joker, born of his terrorist cell's use of joker playing cards at the site of their attacks, working "pro-bono" the assassin almost single-handedly liberated Zurich for the Federated Commonwealth, off-handed crippling the Burr's Black Cobras mercenary unit in the process, purely because Zurich being in the Capellan Confederation would make his escape off-world harder.
Katherine Steiner-Davion again hired the assassin in the midst of the FedCom Civil War. Katherine wanted to break the spirit of her brother Victor by killing the most important person in his life: his love Omi Kurita.
The Assassin got his first chance on Coventry. Omi and Isis Marik were visiting Victor during a short period of reconciliation. The arrival of Isis Marik was the assassin's chance to regularly enter the mansion: He posed as a mentally disabled delivery boy and spent days transporting carpets, furniture and other items. When he felt ready, he entered the house by night. He reached the door to Omi Kurita's bedroom and heavily wounded her body-guard Tiaret Nevversan, with a salvo from his needle-gun. That was when Isis stabbed him from behind with a letter opener. He answered with a punch to her face and turned around to kill Omi, when Tiaret fired a bullet into his chest, which broke a rib. The assassin barely escaped.
In 3064 the Assassin finally got his second chance to kill Omi: It was on Luthien, in the palace of the Kurita-family itself. The Assassin disguised as an asian gardener who had immigrated to Luthien from the recently reconquered Smoke Jaguar worlds. He manipulated the souvenir Victor gave to Omi: a stone which had a special place in the garden. He knew, that no gardener would dare to touch the stone, so he installed a trap and slightly moved the stone. When Omi Kurita corrected it's position, poisoned darts were fired into her arm. She died with Victor's name on her lips.
The Assassin knew, that prey stirs attention by movement. And with the completion of his mission he had turned from hunter into prey. Theodore Kurita immediately shut down all interstellar travel in the whole Draconis Combine, but the Assassin was unaffected: He already lived his life as a neighbourhood-watchman.
Victor sent Jerrard Cranston to help the Draconian authorities in catching the assassin. But it seemed like this help wasn't appreciated as Cranston was held busy with bureau-work.
Finally it was Minoru Kurita who tracked him down. In 3067 he retrieved old traces of the Assassin and began putting psychological pressure on him. He constantly laid out hints that reminded the Assassin of former alter egos. The Assassin began to instinctively adapt these old patterns. His new roles somehow gained attributes of past roles. The Assassin fled into the Lyran Alliance burning fake identies like never before, but to no avail. Minoru Kurita was always a step ahead and finally awaited the assassin in a domicile he had deemed safe. He slew him with a Katana and took his head as a proof.