Daniel Liu

Daniel ‘Dan’ Liu was an Asian male who began serving as the leader of the Red Squadron for the Agents of A.C.E in 2032. Born in New Chinatown, Liu was accustomed to many supernatural threats and as such always had a lifelong desire to help tackle them and make his home planet safer, inspiring him to enlist into Oscar Bjorn’s newly established A.C.E.
Liu was born in 2002, and was raised by his father due to his mother dying when he was at a young age. Due to a frustration with the amount of alien and supernatural threats and feeling useless to help, he became indoctrinated into the Order of the Black Star, in which he became a master fighter. During his time in the Order, he became accustomed to letting his rage and anger dictate his actions. Eventually, after discovering some evil practices done by the order, he turned his back on them and trained under the wise Kung Fu master Yǔtóng, where he became able to control some of him impulses. 
Due to his time with the Black Star, he had appeared on Oscar Bjorn’s radar. When recruiting, he was able to track Liu down and recruited him, in which he was appointed the leader of Red Squadron, having to command Melanie Asher, Clifford Warren and Jim Smith. Here, he oversaw the training of his squad members for a year, until they were finally launched during the Fake-Vitron hostage crisis. 
In the early days of being the leader of the Red Squadron, he fought against the Proto-Creature, prevented the assassination of Aarna Malik and fought against the Electro Remnants, meeting Johnathan Roylance. After tackling the Remnants, an old acquaintance from the Black Star confronted him about rejoining. Liu reluctantly fought this acquaintance and killed him. Shortly after this, Liu became key to the defeat of the human Purple Matter.
Shortly after defeating Purple Matter, Liu was on board the Submersible when it was boarded by Ordine terrorists. He later had to confront the Black Star in order to save his sister, and destroyed their coastal base. He also assisted in other missions, such as aiding Christopher Warren and halting the assassination attempt on his life. 
Subsequently he went to go on to fight General Smirnoff, with the assistance of Kieron Hawk. This mission later led to Melanie Asher’s vision of Ella Hawk being triggered, which made it so the agents were able to try and fight the Hydro Retarius under the Supreme Shallik. With the assistance of ex-supreme Sturgis and the liberated Ella, they were able to defeat Shallik and his invasion. 
Subsequently after the underwater threat, Mayor Guo Laing rose to power, who was in fact the heir to the Black Star. Upon being elected in through fraudulent methods, Laing asserted dominance through terror from the Black Star, separating it from the UK and making it an independent state, which forced Liu into hiding. After hatching a plan to remove the Black Star from their unrightfully claimed power, Liu returned to New Chinatown in a raid on the Black Star Temple. 
This raid was a failure, however, and Liu was betrayed by his sister and his father and friend, Jim, were slain. This caused Liu to almost give in and submit, however after being motivated by Melanie Asher and others, Liu decided to stop the Black Star before obtaining the Vorpal object of the same name. With the assistance of the Hydro Retarius, the agents were successful, and Laing resigned from office after losing all his power, therefore leaving New Chinatown in a state of disarray.  
After stopping Liang, New Chinatown became left in a state of disarray, made worse by the Ordine Invasion of Earth. This caused the state to be in an all out war, with the Red Squadron trying to suppress the remaining members of the Black Star, alongside a revived Mob Dogs and Ordine cultists. 
During this time, Liu became captured by Mary, his sister, however he ultimately was able to get her on his side upon discovering secrets about his mother, who was an undercover operative in the Black Star. Mary destroyed the remains of the Black Star at the cost of her own life, devastating Liu. 
Liu, heartbroken and angry, then confronted the likely mayor elect of New Chinatown, Giles Strode, who he discovered was the leader of the Ordine cult. Fearing and acting on impulse, Liu assassinated Strode and was incarcerated, unable to find the correct evidence to defend himself. 
During his time in prison, Liu reflected on his choices as Mel led the Red Squadron. Roylance, who initially disapproved of Liu after the assassination, later called upon him to help break out and infiltrate Lucia Manster’s Anarchists. During the breakout, he had a final confrontation with Liang, which led to his downfall. 
Upon breaking out, Liu discovered the plan of the Anarchists, which he informed the Red Squadron and Richmond Clay of. He then fought alongside his friends to defeat Lucia. Liu then staged his own death and escaped a free man. 
He later worked with the Red Squadron again to defeat the Chain Servant, foiling his plans by channelling the Black Star again, costing him his life.
== Physical Appearance ==
Dan was asian, with spiky, black hair.
== Personality ==
Dan's demons never seemed to fully escape him, as he would often give into his anger and impulses. This caused his ultimate fall from grace, from which he never recovered. 
== Appearances ==
=== Agents of A.C.E: Red Squadron ===
==== Season One: Revival ====
All
==== Season Two: Submerged ====
All
==== Christmas at Walls End (special) ====
==== Season Three: Order of the Black Star ====
All
==== Season Four: Fallen City ====
All
==== Season Five: The Anarchy ====
502 - Long to Reign Over Us, Part Two
504 - Inmate #210501 
506 - Cult of the Manster 
508 - Chains
509 - The Assassination of Clifford Warren by the Bewitched Nathan Maxwell
510 - Her Manster Plan
511 - Power of the Manster, Part One
512 - Power of the Manster, Part Two
==== Season Six: Coda ====
All
== Trivia ==
* Daniel Liu is the first main protagonist to be permanently killed off in Agents of A.C.E, and the second altogether, behind Jacob Masters. 
* Dan and Mel are the characters to both appear in the most amount of episodes of Agents of A.C.E: Red Squadron, with 52 appearances each. 
* John Ryder claimed Dan to be his 'best written character', albeit far from his favourite. 
* Dan was created to envision an 'A.C.E hero that never was', exploring the ideas of a protagonist making the wrong choices and having more moral complexity than his predecessors. 
** These ideas were initially planned for Richmond Clay, however Ryder felt that making him 'morally grey' would be a disservice to his character.
* He is one of the few Agents of A.C.E characters to never appear in multiple series.
* Dan is also the first main character since Jackson Hawksby to not have any variation of Vorpal Powers.
** Despite this, he did channel the energy twice through the Black Star - first in the Season Three finale, and second in the series finale, being the cause of his death.