Tracer Tong

Tracer Tong is a rebel scientific genius skilled in various forms of electronics, from bots to nanotechnology. He helps JC Denton in 2052 and Alex Denton in 2072.

Early life
Born in Hong Kong about in 2007, Tracer survives and thrives in the repressive environment of his native country with his father, Tong Si Hung. Though the government places serious restrictions on body modifications, enforcement efforts are lax, so people come from far and wide to get themselves upgraded. He has more contacts in more different fields of endeavor than anyone on Earth (or, at least, in Hong Kong) and greater expertise with human augmentation than anyone else alive.

In 2027, Adam Jensen unwittingly aids in his escape by setting off a bomb in a Hengsha shipyard. While the guards hurry to the source of the explosion, a young Tracer Tong can be seen slipping past, hopping on a small boat, and departing, giving Adam a quick farewell before speeding off. The boat is named "The Tracer."

In a mission available from pre-ordering the game, Adam Jensen rescues Tong from a cell, where he is being held by Belltower soldiers. When Adam finally reaches him, Tong reveals that he knowingly allowed himself to be kidnapped by Belltower. The reason that he did this was that he didn't want to "follow in his father's footsteps" as it were, and knew that by getting into trouble with Belltower, his father would be forced to send him out of Hengsha and over to Hong Kong, to escape the resulting danger.

After learning about this, however, Adam berates Tracer, saying that by risking a war between the Triads and Belltower, he put many lives in Hengsha at risk. He then says to Tong, "The more power you think you have, the more quickly it slips from your hands." Tong then appears to genuinely learn from this, and he later repeats the quote to JC Denton 25 years later.

2052
By 2052, Tracer Tong has rejected all ties to governments and corporations to follow his intellect and inspiration wherever they lead him. He is affiliated to and lives with the Luminous Path Society, one of the most ancient and powerful of Hong Kong's organized crime Triads. But Tong seems to be more neutral where the Triad Wars are concerned. Having no loyalties to manipulate, Tong is feared by Bob Page more than any other single individual alive, and thus Paul Denton is ordered by UNATCO to kill him.

At some point between then and 2052, Juan Ivanovich Lebedev convinces Paul that UNATCO is involved in a terrible conspiracy, and given the mounting evidence, Paul chooses to help Tong, Silhouette, and the NSF (which he joined). He is revealed to have the technology capable of reproducing the Dragon's Tooth Sword and deactivating UNATCO killswitches. Tong is also revealed as one of Alex Jacobson's contacts. When JC returns to UNATCO from Lebedev's LaGuardia Airport base, he is ordered to assassinate him, but due to the events between then and his arrival in Hong Kong (which confirmed UNATCO's affiliation with MJ12), JC instead sides with the resistance, and his killswitch is activated.

To gain access to Tong in the Luminous Path compound, JC is instructed by the Triad's leader Gordon Quick to obtain evidence that Maggie Chow was responsible for the assassination of the Red Arrow Triad's former leader, and be the catalyst for peace between the Triads by informing Max Chen, the current Red Arrow leader, of Chow's treachery. When JC proves his loyalty, he is allowed to see Tong, who deactivates his killswitch and orders JC to fetch the ROM encoding for the Dragon's Tooth Sword in Versalife, to supply the sword to both Triads to prevent a war over the sword. Upon accomplishing this, Tong orders JC to return to the Versalife building to obtain the schematics for the Universal Constructor used to manufacture the Ambrosia vaccine (and ironically the Gray Death virus).

After this mission is completed, Tong tells JC about the Illuminati, and tells him about the shipment of Gray Death to New York on a Chinese superfreighter previously owned by Illuminatus Stanton Dowd. Since Dowd knows how to scuttle the ship, Tong orders JC to locate Dowd in Hell's Kitchen.

Tong advises JC from that point (a sign that he fully trusts JC), especially when JC is in Paris. Around the time JC is taken to the home of Illuminati leader Morgan Everett, Tong suffers an accident with the Gray Death sample he was working with, thus contracting the plague himself.

As JC leaves Vandenberg (the home base for X-51), Jock arrives with Tong, who seeks the help of X-51 leader Gary Savage, the only person other than Bob Page capable of providing him with a cure for the Gray Death.

When JC arrives in Area 51 for the final mission, Tong reveals that the cure was a success, and the virus is in remission. At the holocomm, Tong asks JC to destroy Area 51 and cripple the global network, to provide maximum freedom for the people, and prevent a single organization like MJ12 from gaining control of the world. JC follows Tong's orders (and a couple of other choices as well), thus triggering the Great Collapse.

2072
In the year 2072, Tong still retains his steely manner from his days of dealing tech in the Hong Kong underground. He deeply regrets his actions after witnessing the devastation and violent anarchy that resulted from the Collapse. Still a political idealist, he is determined to reshape society through the free and open distribution of certain technologies, a "Great Advance." Remaining loyal to the Denton brothers, Tong became leader of the Trier facility of ApostleCorp, founded by Paul Denton. When Alex Denton arrives in Trier, he meets Tong at a local tavern, where Tong prods Alex to rescue "Her Holiness" at the Black Gate Ruins, and reveals the purpose of ApostleCorp, Paul's cryogenic stasis and abduction, JC's imperfect merge with Helios and subsequent suspended animation, and the technology of biomod infusions. He even gives Alex a perfected biomod infusion.

Tong later pleads with Alex to revive JC, who is in Antarctica, and protect him from Billie Adams, who wants to assassinate JC. He tells Alex about the portal to Antarctica at the Black Gate ruins, a portal only those with biomod infusions can use.

At Liberty Island, the final mission, Alex meets Tong again. Here, Tong assists with ApostleCorp's battle against the other factions. If the player is affiliated with another faction, Tong will try to kill Alex.

Quotes

 * "If you can make peace among the Triads, then perhaps I can help you with your difficulties."
 * "See how easily our technologies turn on us? The more power you think you have, the more quickly it slips from your hands."
 * "Every passing minute brings your friend Billie one step closer to murdering the only sincere leader humanity has ever had."