Bella Ortiz
AKA: “Death-Adder”

Bella Ortiz was, like many other Naga; a simple minded soul who grew up in the harsh world. She was hatched beneath the open sky of Arizona's notorious sector. Van Buren. A place where the desert eats the careless and the smart ones learn to listen to the spirits of the desert winds. She grew up moving between fringe settlements, smuggler routes, and half-forgotten arcologies baking under the sun. For a Naga, survival meant more than hiding from Aztecnology. It meant learning when to coil in shelter from mana-storms, when to strike, and when to let prey walk past without ever realizing how close death had been for them. The need to pick and choose who is friend, and who is food.

Her people taught her loyalty first. You protect your own. You don’t abandon allies. And never trust the corporate types, as they are the first to betray you. But the desert taught her another very important lesson just as clearly. Mercy is a luxury, and predators don’t apologize for being what they are.

As a young runner, Bella made her living as a courier, scout, and occasional thief along the Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah trade routes. She learned how to slip through border walls, corporate checkpoints, and tribal territories alike, using charm, patience, and a carefully curated web of false identities. Violence was never her first tool, but it was always close at hand and a very effective one. When she killed, it was clean, intimate, and final. Chaos is not her way. The less noise the better, as silence is her friend and her absence is key as there are hardly ever any bodies to find when she encounters threats.

Her reputation grew quietly in the RunnerNet among Nomad clans and runners in various cities across the West Coast and Mid-west. Fixers learned that if a job required someone to get inside past sensors, past guards, past expectations, then Death-Adder was the name to call. She wasn’t flashy, she didn’t posture, and she simply appeared where she shouldn’t be and left nothing behind but unanswered questions.

Everything changed during a desert infiltration run that should have been simple. A data theft from a corporate black site buried beneath an abandoned solar farm. Bad intel again. But not stupidity this time. No, this was something else. Bella survived only because she trusted her instincts over the plan, abandoning the objective and vanishing into the dunes while the site burned behind her.

That run marked her and left her with a scar that always reminds her that, there is always a bigger predator out there.

Not physically, but mentally, she stopped taking jobs at face value. She began hunting patterns, not paydays. Learning who pulled what strings, who leaked what intel, and who benefited when runners didn’t come home. She refined her methods, investing in custom gear, cyberware, and counter-surveillance tech designed for close-quarters kills, clean exits, and insurance for those who would be stupid enough to try and stab her in the back. Where others relied on brute force or magic, Death-Adder relied on control of the environment, the target, and herself.

Over time, Death-Adder became known as a very efficient assassin. She formed a small but deadly network of allies. Runners, fixers, smugglers, and informants who trusted her because she never broke her word. Betrayal, however, was met with absolute finality. Once marked, a target didn’t know they were prey until it was already too late.

Now, Death-Adder slithers in the shadows as a high-end covert-op specialist and Face. Infiltration, assassination, counterintelligence, and theft are simply different expressions of the same skill set to her. and she sells her talents carefully, choosing jobs that align with her instincts rather than just her wallet. When she commits to a team, her loyalty is unbreakable, but her trust is earned, not given.

To most, Death Adder is just another Naga runner from the desert sprawl. To those who have crossed her, she was a deadly predator, and for a selwct special few who survived working beside her; she is a reminder of an old but honest and cruel truth of the Sixth World. In the shadows, the most dangerous predators are the ones you never see coming.

Notable Gear:

Custom Naga Interface Cyber-arms:
Purpose-built cyberarms integrated directly into Bella’s upper torso and nervous system, compensating for her lack of natural arms. These cyber limbs are modular, retractable, and reinforced for close-quarters combat, infiltration, and silent kills. Designed with fine motor precision rather than brute strength, they allow her to manipulate locks, weapons, and tools with surgical accuracy. Their housings are optimized to fold close to her body, minimizing silhouette and thermal signature when not in use. Equipped with lockpicking tools, combat claws, and fingerprint replicators.

Endo-Digester System:
An internal bio-mechanical processing unit integrated into Bella’s digestive tract, allowing her to safely break down non-organic materials. Weapons, cyberware fragments, nanoware, data storage devices, clothing, and other physical evidence can be consumed and rendered unrecoverable. This system ensures that nothing she devours can be easily reconstructed or traced, making body disposal and evidence removal both efficient and nearly permanent.

Gastric Pulverizer:
Working in tandem with the Endo-Digester, this reinforced internal mechanism crushes and shreds solid matter prior to breakdown in her gut. Bone, metal, ceramics, and composite materials are reduced to inert slurry before being neutralized. Particularly useful for eliminating remains, compromised tech, or targets that must never be found. Once consumed, recovery is functionally impossible without magical identification.

Rolling BTL Recorders:
A network of discreet optical and audio recording units mounted along and within her body, capable of capturing multiple angles simultaneously. These recorders continuously log audio and visual data during operations, feeding encrypted footage to internal storage or external dead drops as needed. They allow Bella to reconstruct events, identify gaps in surveillance, and provide proof of job completion when required while also serving as insurance against double-crossers.

Chameleon Scale Nanoware:
Advanced nanoware woven into Bella’s natural scales, allowing her to subtly alter coloration, patterning, and texture. While not true invisibility, this system enables her to convincingly pass as other naga body types or blend into varied environments. Particularly effective for long-term infiltration, identity subterfuge, and evading recognition across multiple runs. When combined with her social engineering skills, it makes pinning down her true appearance nearly impossible.

Ares Viper Silvergun:
A heavily modified Heavy Pistol. The Ares Viper Silvergun is a custom made semi-automatic/burst fire shotgun pistol that fires shredder rounds. Complete with gun cam, custom fitted meta-variant adapted systems, and a reconstruction rounds, eliminating the need for ammunition, so long as the solar cell inside is fully charged.

Cyber-implant Eyes:
Specially designed cyber-eyes that include an ocular drone system, retinal replicators, thermal scanners, anti-flash systems, camera scramblers, and rolling audio/visual recording systems. Allowing for Bella to be a highly specialized espionage specialist to get in, gather intel, and get out with ease.