Mute Hispanic assassin. Known to be closely associated with the contract-killer called Zane, as close friend and partner in crime. They form an effective duo, responsible for a string of paid murders across the Wastes.
Manco, which is perhaps only a nickname, started his life in the greasy, drug & booze-fueled city of Tijuana near what’s known as the Dark Coast, as the son of one of many prostitutes that peddle their pussy in the district and one of the many male clientele. Growing up on these Mexican mean-streets meant acquiring a knack for basic survival, and the local youths learned early on to band together into tight-knit street gangs or join one of the existing ones, ensuring a sense of having a place & purpose and people to rely on, but also making for constant clashes between the various groups, often in the form of violent streetfights and turf-wars. As such, by the time he was a teenager, Manco was already plenty of familiar with the art of hand to hand combat or as he preferred, the skill with a knife, as well as defending himself from harm, acquiring and perfecting a mixture of techniques from a variety of sources to form a style not unlike the tribal-warfare martial arts of the pre-war Philippines and perhaps even using it as the basis.
By the time he was nearing his 20’s, the gang he had run with since he was just a little kid had grown and clawed its way to one of the places at the top, and the tall knife-fighter enjoyed a certain measure of respect and renown from his peers… Until a teensy little vital mistake made it all come crashing down. Having an affair with the leader’s younger sister, ending with her knocked up, infuriated the warlord enough for Manco to decide to skip town before he’d get lynched at the stone arch at the edge of the city’s borders.
Heading east, into the territory of New Nevada, he was attracted by the ‘bright lights’ of Las Vegas, and upon reaching this hive of scum & villainy, he promptly signed up for service in the Vegas Militia, hoping to make a buck or two, and most importantly, using it as an atleast temporary security measure against his vengeful old gang, himself now having access to heavy weaponry and figuring that to fuck with the militia was to fuck with the Vegas Mafiosos who ran it, perhaps keeping his old friends at bay.
Tasked with fighting the remnants of the robot army that still plagued Vegas, the members of the militia were trained intensively in guerrilla tactics, the use of high-end assault weaponry, and being able to survive in the depths of the sewer systems where the droids still lurked. While training and fighting under these circumstances, he met his soon-to-be partner in crime Charles Zane, forming a close friendship and effective teamwork that lasts to this day.
As the android remnants began to dwindle, the two decided to move on to greener fields and onto the career as professional bounty-hunters around the Vegas area. Eventually, they fell from grace after a job went wrong, Manco losing his voice– a voice that in the meantime had been well trained during his stay in the city, having acquired a great love for the pre-war artist known as Elvis Presley and performing alongside his militia duties as Elvis impersonator– to a bounty’s machete, and the pair taking brutal revenge on the bounty and the people that harbored him, once Manco recovered. Realizing there was more money to be made in immoral violence and death rather then just trying to capture ‘bounties’, they turned instead to wetworks and contract killing…
Charles Zane and Manco are currently two of the wasteland’s top performers in professional murder. Manco seems to operate as the muscle, being well-versed in martial arts as well as being a physical powerhouse. Charles, on the other hand, relies on stealth and cunning to take his victims apart. They also seem to share an interesting bond, as Manco’s lack of speech doesn’t dissuade Zane from carrying on full-length conversations with the mute hispanic. While most people assume Charlie Zane is the “head” of the operation, due to being the one who deals with clients and does all the talking, the assumption is incorrect. The two operate as partners to the utmost extent.
Despite their underworld notoriety, they move about the criminal social circles in secrecy, killing their targets in well-orchestrated methods that tend to leave people wondering if they were ever involved at all.