Takahashi Rumiko (usually known as Miko) was born in March, 1974, to a pair of upwardly mobile conservative business folk in Orlando, Florida. Her mother is full Japanese while her father is half Japanese/half American. Because their jobs keep them very busy, Miko is an only child. As a consequence she was raised by the housekeeper. Fortunatly she learnt to read at an early age, and was left to entertain herself with computers and computer aided instruction. This grew into a near obsession with computers and she learnt as much as she could.
Her reading tastes developed more into manga, escapist fantasy and hard-core science fiction.
Her parents provided Miko with all the material things she wanted, while she was young, but she sometimes felt like she had been abandoned by them as she didn't really understand why they had to leave all the time to do work things. She was taken to Japan on one business trip, when they felt she was old enough to appreciate it. It was then she felt an affinity to her Japanese heritage and started following that culture, including dabbling in Shintoism, a practise she has kept up.

Once she reached high school she was basically told she had to start earning for herself. So she did do some work as a pool cleaner during some summer vacations, in order to help pay for her University education. Other basic jobs included babysitting, mowing lawns, serving in a fastfood chain, and a computer studies tutor helping slower students on an individual basis.
Miko is a good swimmer and learnt SCUBA in her first year at Orlando University.

During her time at University, she became a member of several eco-groups and shocked her parents by refusing to join the business world as she saw big-business as 'a bunch of profit hungry sharks who don't care about people or the environment'. Instead she joined in several active protests against big business including the one her parents helped run. As a result of the ensuring row, she walked out as well as dropping out of her third year of university as she felt that she was being forced into a corporate position.
After dropping out she re-entered the workforce. Getting a job working for a small computer seller/repair firm that also specialised in data recovery and retrieval. During this time she built her current workstation and kept it upgraded to current specs.

During those years, she was hacking for various eco-groups, searching corporate databases for evidence of eco-crimes and exposing those crimes under the alias of 'Mercury'. Several corporations found themselves in severe trouble for illicit activities because of uncovered evidence. During one such hack, she had just broken into a very secure system, which was later identified as Blackeagle Atlanta, when someone there sent a message to her terminal. The upshot was, she could either accept a job offer from the two large guys wearing dark suits and sunglasses in the black sportscar, parked over the road from her apartment, or they would ensure she went to jail for a very long time. It turned out they were Blackeagle operatives investigating 'Mercury'. She took the job and is now employed by Blackeagle.

Another point of note is that she has never learnt to drive and has a pathological fear of getting behind the wheel. Even sitting in a passenger seat makes her nervous. This was because of an incident when a drunk driver ran a red light, and crashed into the driving instructor's vehicle while she had control. The instructor was killed outright and she was in hospital for several weeks. It was noted that the incident was not her fault but she blames herself for not reacting fast enough.
Since working for Blackeagle, she has managed to reconcile some of her differences with her parents although they still wonder 'where did we go wrong' and has continued to embrace her Japanese heritage becoming a believer in Shintoism. As such she believes that alcohol and drugs are bad even though she does indulge in chocolate. Usually drinks herbal tea.

Personality wise, she's usually quiet and shy but can have a fierce temper when roused. Occasionally she'll slip into Japanese instead of English. Very bookish and reads a lot, usually computer textbooks or the latest manga.
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