Tracer Tong

Tracer Tong is a Chinese scientist skilled in various forms of electronics, from bots to nanotechnology. He helps Adam Jensen in 2027, JC Denton in 2052 and Alex Denton in 2072.

Early life
Born in Hong Kong before it reverted to the Chinese in 1997, 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 in 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 the DLC mission "Tong's Rescue", Adam Jensen can rescue 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 twenty-five years later.

2052
"Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison... now Tracer Tong. Every so often humanity throws up a genius so potent it can't be contained by the usual bonds of precedent, patronage and patriotism. The man who's named himself Tracer Tong is a scientist, inventor, philosopher, and social critic. He's rejected all ties to governments or corporations in order to follow his intellect and inspiration wherever they lead him. Of course, even a genius has to eat, and research is expensive. Therefore Tong has formed an unlikely alliance with the Luminous Path Society, one of the most ancient and powerful of Hong Kong's organized crime "Triads." Tong does certain services for the Luminous Path, and in return they provide him sanctuary and insulation from more Machiavellian forces. Surprisingly, they don't make him any "offers he can't refuse," as an occidental gang would. Instead they regard him as a sort of guru, and let him follow his own way."

- description of Tracer Tong to the player Tracer Tong is affiliated and lives with the Luminous Path Triad in Hong Kong in 2050's, but seems to be more neutral where the Triad Wars are concerned, and become a powerful enemy of MJ12 and UNATCO, so much so that Paul Denton was 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 completing this mission, 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. The player can choose to follow Tong's orders, thus triggering the Collapse, or ignore him.

2072
"Tracer Tong, JC Denton’s trusted Hong Kong contact in DX I, has remained loyal to the Denton brothers. Highly intelligent, he is a hacker of both hardware and software and retains a steely manner from his days of dealing tech in the Hong Kong underground. He is a political idealist determined to reshape society through the free and open distribution of certain technologies. He talks very openly about a Great Advance awaiting humankind, though in truth only JC Denton knows for sure what such an event might bring."

- Deus Ex: Invisible War description

After witnessing the devastation and violent anarchy that resulted from the Collapse, Tong deeply regretted his actions. He 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."

Gallery
Tracer Tong