Jaden

Jaden Wardington Elphinstone^[3] (ジェイデン・ウォーディントン・エルフィンストーン Jeiden Wōdinton Erufinsutōn), more commonly known as Jaden (ジェイデン Jeiden) or Jay (ジェイ Jei), is a CIA agent and rookie whose first assignment was to help the U.S. Ambassador to Peru with Eda's guidance.

Appearance

Jaden is a young Caucasian man with a tall build, pale skin, and short, wavy blond hair. He mostly wears dark-colored suits and pants, light-colored dress shirts, patterned neckties, and dark-colored shoes. He carries a pistol for a weapon.

Personality

He is very formal with everyone he meets, even if he knows them well. Despite his line of work, Jaden is a timid field agent and is very reluctant to use firearms. He prefers to avoid conflict both out of practicality and fear, but moreso the latter. He adheres to a strict, law-abiding interpretation of CIA standards in that he, for example, genuinely believes that the agency must be ethical and not engage in "dirty work" such as assassinations because of a U.S. executive order forbidding assassination.

Eda Initial Stage history

As a child, Jaden was a member of the Boy Scouts of America and wanted to reach the rank of Eagle Scout, but he did not.^[2] After high school, he attended and graduated from Harvard University, applying to the Central Intelligence Agency afterward.^[1] Although he succeeded in becoming an agent, Jaden had received a poor grade on his marksmanship skills.^[4]

Little King of The South

On his first assignment, Jaden went to South America and worked with Eda to fulfill the request from Alcock, the U.S. Ambassador to Peru. Specifically, because President Duarte became uncooperative with the U.S. government and was becoming unpopular as well due to his austerity policies and repression, Alcock wanted the CIA to aid the opposition coalition that opposed him. At the U.S. embassy, Jaden and Eda were briefed by the ambassador on what to do. Accordingly, the two agents departed to a Popular Action (AP) office, with Jaden serving as the driver since he was the junior rookie. On the way, he assessed that as long as the CIA continued to provide financial support to the opposition, they would not have to pull off any "tricks" and the regime would be overthrown. As he continued speaking about the debt-ridden president and how the opposition had been gaining momentum from public support, Jaden wondered if their superiors truly did not trust him enough to fill other positions, asking Eda what she thought.

Knowing that they were both rookies, Eda guessed that Jaden was sent to her because her higher-ups thought it would be a good opportunity to train new recruits. Addressing their partnership, he asked her why he could not be sent on his own if she wanted him to gain experience. Sighing, Eda responded that he was quite confident despite his shyness, to which Jaden politely joked that she had a big attitude for a fellow rookie. At the office, they waited inside and had a meeting with Farias Cordero, the opposition coalition's leader. Having already met Jaden earlier, Cordero welcomed him and introduced himself to Eda. The representative said that he would be frank on his goal: the assassination of the president. Speechless at what he said, Jaden and Eda asked if he was joking. Realizing that Cordero was serious, the former emphasized that the CIA was forbidden by executive order from conspiring to plan assassinations.

Undeterred, Cordero told him that the behind-the-scenes loophole would be providing military support and having the Peruvian military stage a coup d'état. Concerned about his idea, Jaden opined that there was no way such a violent method would go unnoticed. Confused, Cordero rhetorically questioned what the CIA's purpose even was in his country. He assured Jaden that the assassination would be carried out by left-wing guerrillas, pleading with him to give financial and weapons support to the opposition. Worried at the revelation, the CIA agent asked what had happened since last time, to which Cordero bluntly elaborated that the change in policy was due to their country reaching bankruptcy if they played it easy any longer. Reasoning that they had to take some risks to prevent it, he asserted that the coalition had made up their minds. Eda stated that she understood his intentions but wondered how they were in contact with the guerrillas. Snapping his fingers, Cordero ordered Enrique Gasol to come in, introducing him as the bridge between the coalition and the guerrillas.

Leaving the office and returning to the American embassy, Jaden, Eda and the ambassador discussed Enrique's reliability, with the female agent recalling that he was used by Ruggles, who was killed in the line of duty in Central America. Jaden asked if Enrique was even involved in that since he looked like a child. Eda advised them not to take him lightly since he was more than meets the eye. Brushing off the warning, the ambassador stressed that he was the connection to the guerrillas. In complete disbelief, Jaden warned them that the president was not stupid, opining that he could not imagine the left-wing guerrillas successfully pulling off the assassination. In response, the ambassador retorted that it did not mean they were to do nothing. Finally, he commanded the two agents to negotiate and cooperate with the guerrillas, all the while doing it discreetly and confidently. To Jaden's surprise, Eda agreed to see what she could do.

The frustrated Jaden began to drive and rhetorically asked Eda if they were really heading to the guerrilla stronghold, deriding the mission as absurd. She claimed that the ambassador was an old-fashioned cowboy who would get restless if he did not take the initiative on the situation. Worried again, Jaden suggested that they pretend to listen to him, reasoning that they did not need to prove themselves by crossing a dangerous bridge. However, Eda confessed that she was curious and wanted to know what else was going on in the South American country. Angered, Jaden muttered that he already wrote a bunch of reports about it. Eda claimed that she respected his report but asserted that because she was in charge, she needed to be in direct contact with the environment.^[5]

Once they picked up Enrique at a remote location, the CIA agent drove twenty kilometers to the town where the boy was staying at. Bringing the agents into a bar, the boy greeted the bartender and showed the agents to their table, telling them to have a drink and wait there because he had to contact his headquarters. As he left, he assured them that the drinks were his treat. Jaden admitted that he could not believe the child bought him a drink, whereas Eda joked that she would accept the drinks without a second thought. He complained that he could not drink too much, causing Eda to say he was moody. Soon, after only one drink, the drunk Jaden ranted about how the CIA needed a drastic change in policy, particularly a focus on economic intelligence.

At that point, Enrique returned and shared Eda's surprise at seeing Jaden drunk. Relieved, she grumpily stated that he certainly kept them waiting. Confirming that they reached an agreement, the boy specified that he would take the agents to his headquarters the next day. Additionally, he assured them that they could stay at his place but requested they help him carry some luggage there. Going to an apartment, Eda walked with them while Jaden and Enrique rolled a cart with a rocking chair strapped to it. Before they entered, Enrique spoke with Luciana as she left the house to go to the guerrilla stronghold. However, Jaden rested on the cart because he was exhausted, so Mayte prepared a bed for him.

The next morning, Enrique headed out with the agents to bring them to the guerrilla stronghold, but not before accepting a lunchbox from Mayte. On the way, Jaden's face suddenly turned pale, gaining Eda's attention. She asked if she should drive so that he could recover from his hangover, but he stopped the car to vomit, irking her. Immediately, the three of them heard and saw two military helicopters fly toward the guerrilla stronghold, which the military began to destroy with missiles and gunfire. To Enrique's anger, Eda turned the car around since she believed that they had to flee and negotiate with the guerrillas later. As they returned to Casilda's town, Enrique noticed that the military showed up in the town at the same time.^[6]

Against the CIA agents' demands, Enrique ran to the town to find Mayte and her family. As the government's attack went on, Jaden and Eda waited outside the town boundary for the fighting to subside to find out what was going on. He asked what they would do given that they would need to go through the town to get back to the city. Jaden added that they could talk to the soldiers since the two of them were basically diplomats. Rejecting the idea, she responded that it was not a good idea to talk to a soldier focused on battle, saying that it would be too late to regret the idea when the soldiers pull the trigger. Revealing that she had firearms in the car's glove compartment, Eda emphasized that Jaden would need to protect himself when things got tough. Reluctant at the plan, he confessed that he was somewhat trained but did not receive good grades in marksmanship. Jaden clarified that he did not like bloody work, but Eda retorted that preference did not matter in their situation. Hearing a loud noise, the two agents immediately pointed their guns toward the nearby forest.

Yelling that it was only himself, Enrique pleaded with them not to shoot. Nonetheless, Eda commanded him to put his hands up, so Luciana agreed while Mayte helped her gravely injured grandmother. Enrique pleaded with them to hurry since the soldiers were close by. Behind the surrenderers, Eda spotted two soldiers and quickly took them both down with her pistol. Several more soldiers showed up as reinforcements, creating a firefight that ended in Jaden's group winning uninjured. Mayte pleaded with them to get Casilda to a hospital, so Enrique asked Jaden and Eda to help him out. Pointing her rifle at the latter, Luciana threatened to kill them if she refused. Explaining that it was an exchange, she claimed to know a detour up the mountain road, demanding that the agents get them out of town without going through the village. Subsequently, the Americans begrudgingly agreed.

As Jaden drove, Enrique had to stay in the trunk and complained about it, to which Eda yelled back that their vehicle was already over seating capacity. Whispering to her, Jaden wondered how Casilda would fare, but Eda silently told him that she probably would not survive. Traveling further, Jaden assured them that they were finally on a paved road, but Casilda soon died from her wounds. The group stopped on the side of the road to quickly bury the elderly woman. To her protest, Mayte shouted that they could not just bury their grandmother in the ground, with Luciana also opining that she wanted to give Casilda a proper burial. Rhetorically asking if she had a particular place in mind, Eda reasoned that it was better to bury her at that time than to just leave her corpse on the ground. Climbing out of the car trunk, the boy assured them that he could handle the matter, specifying that there was a safehouse in the area where they could bring Casilda's body and then find a mortician whom he knew afterward. Accordingly, he asked Jaden to help him move Casilda into the car trunk.

Having a new plan, Jaden drove the car to the city so that he and Eda could report the crackdown to the American embassy as soon as possible in order for a proper response to be formed. To Enrique's chagrin, Eda announced that the plan to leverage with the guerrillas would be put on hold. When they arrived in the city, the five noticed the traffic up ahead and were surprised to see a roadblock, where several soldiers ordered them to stop the car.^[4] Jaden showed the men his diplomatic papers, so they informed him that the country was under martial law and all foreign diplomats needed to return to their embassies supposedly for their own safety. However, Eda and Luciana prepared their firearms and quickly shot a few soldiers, causing Jaden to slam on the gas pedal to flee the checkpoint. The women took out a pursuing machine-gunner, so they were able to get to Enrique's safehouse. There, Jaden called the U.S. embassy and learned from Alcock that President Duarte was carrying out a self-coup. To aid him, Alcock advised Jaden to meet up with one of his American contacts for further instructions. After the call, however, Luciana and Enrique forced Eda to drive them to a funeral home to arrange for Casilda's burial while Jaden left to meet with the contact. When the five people reconvened, Jaden relayed to everyone that their plan was to evade the military and flee into the mountains and into a bordering country to the east.^[7]

Once everyone gathered their supplies, they departed from the hideout and Luciana drove for them in her van, but she sped past a military vehicle, arousing their suspicion. As a result, Eda had to shoot at the two soldiers, incapacitating them and causing them to crash into a tank truck which exploded. Melgar and his intelligence officers heard about the incident and deduced that it was likely the CIA and the guerrillas' point of contact, so they pursued them. Enrique mentioned that they needed to get as much distance as possible while they had daylight, making the others agree. On the way, Jaden accepted Mayte's offer of food, though he was in a grumpy mood because he did not expect such violence in his occupation. Ranting about his life and how he graduated from Harvard University, he insulted himself and believed he was reduced to doing rough work, making his colleagues feel awkward as he slightly cried. As the CIA agents were driving up the mountain road, Celino and his partner attacked their van and tipped it over. During the accompanying firefight, the group agreed that they could steal the enemy's vehicle to continue their journey, but Eda shot one of the men as he was deploying a grenade, causing the car to explode.^[1]

Since they could no longer use cars to continue onward, Jaden and Eda helped the others gather the remaining supplies and began their journey up the mountain. On the way, Jaden was the only one who did not feel tired because he enjoyed hiking and the outdoors. At night, when the group set up camp and ate stew cooked by Jaden, José, Lobbe and Víbora attacked everyone, with Jaden and Eda having to take cover while Víbora beat up Luciana and Enrique. To everyone's shock, Víbora broke both of Luciana's arms and stabbed her in the chest with her own weapon, fatally wounding her. At that point, thanks to Jaden's suppressive fire backing her up and fending off Lobbe, Eda killed José.^[2] On the other hand, the distraught Mayte grabbed a stray pistol and shot Víbora several times as he was beating up Enrique. Because more intelligence officers would arrive, Eda advised that Mayte leave Luciana behind, which she did.

The next day, after they had arrived near the town of Monzó near Peru's eastern border, Jaden and Eda observed the place, with the former asking if she thought they were getting ahead of themselves. Eda joked that it seemed close and proposed that they use a payphone to call for a rescue team being sent. Jaden wondered if they might actually come, to which she answered that it was a 50-50 chance. Suggesting that they take the chance, Eda ordered him to stay behind. Before she left, Jaden gave her a thumbs up and advised her to watch her back, prompting her to confidently assert she would. As he kept an eye on Mayte and Enrique, he saw the latter stand up, sternly asking where he was going since he needed to rest. Enrique reminded him that he would need a car to cross the border anyway, offering to retrieve one for the time being. As the boy prepared to leave, Jaden stopped him and demanded that they all go together.

Speeding into town, Jaden drove toward the store which Eda entered since Intelligence Bureau agents surrounded the place. Enrique's suppressive fire allowed Eda to hop into the truck's cargo bed, so Jaden sped out of town. To his shock, however, the surviving Víbora stood on the road and pushed against the car hood as Jaden attempted to ram him.^[8] Víbora jumped onto the car and fought with the other three, so Jaden drove for them as the fight continued. Finally seizing the opportunity, Enrique and Mayte jointly shot at Víbora, pushing him off of the car. Once they got further away from the pursuing officers, Jaden's group took a brief break and then utilized a side road to throw off the enemy. When they were close to the eastern border, the CIA agents were forced to stop their truck since the military blocked off the border.^[9]

To their surprise, several missiles fired from a helicopter hit the military trucks, killing all of the soldiers. Coming to their aid, Amber Whinberry urged the four of them to climb aboard. Before Mayte could be helped up, Víbora appeared and attempted to drag her down. While the helicopter continued ascending and resuming its flight, Eda shot at him, which forced him to cease his grip on the child. Víbora swiftly moved and punched Amber, who quickly deployed a flashbang to blind him. Immediately, everyone else fired at him and greatly injured him. Nonetheless, Víbora still ran and charged at Mayte, allowing Eda to shoot him in the head, causing him to fall into the canopy below. As the helicopter traveled, Enrique and Jaden were surprised at the real reason the CIA came to their rescue. At the same time, the U.S. threatened to depose President Duarte if he did not end his self-coup, so he did. Afterward, the president met up with the U.S. ambassador and Eda, who forced him to accept the deal of ending the repression of civilians in exchange for remaining in power.

At night, Jaden reconvened with her CIA partners, Enrique and Mayte to eat some food. Talking to Enrique, Eda pointed out that he would likely be under scrutiny from both sides and would have to put up with it as the price of life. With a defeated look, Enrique sighed and suddenly wondered where Mayte was. When Jaden admitted he thought she was in the bathroom, the boy became worried and ran out of the residence, frantically calling for Mayte. The girl declared that she had to run away since she did not feel justice was served for her slain family members by the president staying in power, so she disappeared. Later, Jaden came across the dejected Enrique in the garage and offered his condolences.^[10]

Groovy Guy Russell

Back in the United States, Jaden accompanied Eda and Amber to Washington, D.C. to prepare for a meeting with Senator Jack Bonham. As Amber was driving on 14th Street, Leon Miller suddenly ran in front of their path, forcing her to stop the car. As Miller cussed them out, the criminal was immediately hit and killed by a speeding semi-truck, shocking the three agents. Later that day, they stopped at a bar and discussed who was at fault for the car accident. Eda asked "Jaden Wardington Elphinstone" what he thought, making Amber hide her laughter upon learning of his full name. He scoffed at her opinion of his "showy" name, but the drunk Eda ignored them. Looking flirtingly at Jaden, Amber asked the "boy scout" if he wanted some alcohol too, making him nervous. She joked that Eda told her he was good at mountain hiking, to which he only asked if she was in her "Drunken Amber" state. Seeing her surprise, Jaden smiled and admitted that he knew she was on the verge of alcoholism at one point, which interfered with her work duties.

Infuriated, Amber shouted at Eda, who denied having said anything. The former then asked if the college-educated man was trying to pick a fight with her, but she noticed the nervous bartender and apologized with a flushed face. After the bartender gave Eda her tequila and ginger ale, the latter was angrily confused as to why the other two ordered a non-alcoholic Perrier. Jaden reasoned that he wanted to avoid being as drunk as he was in South America. He urged Eda to pull herself together due to their meeting the next day, intriguing Amber. He firmly told Amber that he could not elaborate on the details with other colleagues, making her claim that a rookie like him would not get ahead in the CIA if he did not hang out with the right people.

Wondering why he was still assigned to help them out even after their mission in South America, Amber giggled and poked her foot between his thighs, telling the annoyed Jaden to open up. Nonetheless confessing that he was not briefed on many details, he relayed to her that he was only told that a U.S. senator wanted to speak with them about Southeast Asia. The next day at a hotel, Jaden reconvened with an elderly CIA officer, confidently boasting that he would not let him down. Seeing that Eda was not with them yet, he was worried that she would not appear as a result of her heavy drinking. To his surprise, Eda showed up in a business suit with her hair up, greeting Jaden and recommending that they get going.^[3]

Subsquently, the agents headed to the Hay–Adams Hotel to visit Jack Bonham in the Fontainebleau, a French restaurant. Commencing the meeting, Bonham posited that there was a serious threat to the U.S.'s interests in Southeast Asia, asking the agents if they knew of the East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC). The senator explained that the leader of the EAEC took advantage of anti-American sentiment that spread in his country, emphasizing that the U.S. could not allow the EAEC's economic zone to expand any further. When the eldest CIA colleague was hesitant, Bonham rhetorically asked him if the CIA's only task was to line its pockets in South America. Trying to write it off, the elderly agent claimed the Iran–Contra affair was a story of the past, to which Bonham retorted that the CIA needed to prove it by showing him what they were made of.

The senator clarifies that their target was the anti-American Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir bin Mohamad. Nervous, the CIA agent whispered to Jaden that he cannot talk anymore. Volunteering to take over speaking, Jaden told Bonham he read through all of the reports on Southeast Asia, adding that he had a proposal. Specifically, he suggested that they soften Mahathir's anti-American stance by reaching out to Japan because Malaysia had a strong relationship with them through the latter country's Look East Policy. Jaden mentioned that the CIA could engage in a two-pronged strategy to shake up Mahathir's domestic base by boosting the Semangat 46 Party, his political rival. At the same time, he recommended strengthening intelligence gathering on Southeast Asian scandals, which had dwindled on the ground since the Vietnam War. Impressed, Bonham liked the idea, though Jaden's colleague reminded him that the scope of intelligence gathering in Southeast Asia was too vague.

Assuring him that they had candidates for possible locations, Jaden professed that the CIA had a promising candidate for an intelligence gathering base. Recalling that the city was the capital of vice and violence in Southeast Asia, Jaden said that the town was called Roanapur. Accepting the plan, the meeting ended with Bonham commending Jaden and Eda for their thinking. As the agents prepared to leave the hotel, Eda joked to Jaden that his "big speech" about economic intelligence was actually important after all. She elaborated to the confused Jaden that she was referring to the rant he made while waiting for Enrique at the bar a while back. Urging her not to bring that up, he blushed and asked her not to make him remember that moment. Smiling, Eda assured him that she was genuinely complimenting him and how his speech was not mere talk. Jaden wondered how Enrique was and confessed that he did not dislike the boy despite his cockiness, commenting that it seemed like a long time ago. After joking about being in the world of suits, he thanked Eda for everything she had done and extended his hand to her, confusing her. Slyly smiling, Eda claimed that shaking hands was not her style, and she left, baffling Jaden and leaving him speechless.^[11]

References