Perseus (faction)

Perseus is a Soviet-based international spy ring and underground network of rogue military operators and espionage agents. The spy ring has loosely allied with a large collective of various different anti-Western terrorist groups and criminal organizations all across the globe, with the ultimate goal of destroying the West's influence in global affairs, making way for the Soviet Union to take its place as the sole superpower of . They serve as the main antagonistic faction of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
==Background==
===Origin and Early Activity===
The Perseus intelligence organization was established sometime during World War II and later, operating during the Cold War by someone going by the title of "Perseus". At some point, a rogue hardliner Soviet officer would take leadership and the title of "Perseus", seeking to abolish the Western influence present throughout the world and set the Soviet Union up as the world's dominant superpower, with ulterior motives to replace the leaders of the Soviet Union should they fail to use the opportunity presented by Perseus. Over the years, the organization would see many various rogue military and intelligence personnel and several prominent members of other anti-Western terrorist and criminal organizations join its ranks, all collaborating to further their respective agendas while simultaneously conspiring together to achieve Perseus' primary objective.
Actions being considered of such caliber that have been attributed to him and his spy network included the infiltration of the by Atomic spies under his direction and having personally stole highly confidential and detailed information from the in 1943, and the Viet Cong soldiers orchestrated by Perseus that attempted to steal an American-made nuclear bomb from the US during the Vietnam War's Operation Fracture Jaw in 1968.
===Rescuing Stitch===
In 1976, Perseus operators would raid the Petropavlovsk Gulag and extract Vikhor "Stitch" Kuzmin, the former head of Nova 6 production on Rebirth Island, who was captured during the CIA raid of the island and subsequently interrogated by Russell Adler before being extracted and locked away in the gulag by his commanding officer Lev Kravchenko for letting Rebirth Island fall. Having been receptive to Perseus' vision of Soviet supremacy and desiring revenge against Adler for stabbing out his eye, Stitch joined the organization's roster, and using his knowledge of Project Nova, began manufacturing the gas for the organization's use.
===Operation Greenlight===
In January 1981, Anton Volkov, the leader of an East Germany-based Russian Mafia and member of Perseus, discovered an American nuclear bomb from Operation Greenlight buried beneath Berlin, and hands it off to "Perseus", who sought to use the nuke to unlock the rest of the Greenlight arsenal hidden throughout Europe; with the Greenlight arsenal under the organization's control, they would detonate the nukes, holding the United States responsible for the nuclear atrocity and forcing the world into chaos, which would allow the Soviet Union to rise up and assume power.
Over the next two months, Perseus would enact their plan, firstly establishing a broadcast station for the nuclear detonations on the Solovetsky Islands while transporting the stolen nuke to an abandoned facility in Cuba for preparation. Next, Perseus's soldiers would travel to the former Mount Yamantau complex in the Ural Mountains to recover intel regarding the identities of Nikita Dragovich's sleeper cell members from the base's mainframe, before subsequently purging the mainframe to prevent the CIA from learning of this information. Finally, having identified Theodore Hastings, a scientist part of Operation Greenlight who was also one of Dragovich's sleeper cell agents, "Perseus" reactivated him and forced him and his team of scientists to travel to Cuba to reverse-engineer the detonation codes from the stolen nuke, which would enable Perseus to activate the rest of the nukes beneath Europe.
During this time period however, many of Perseus' key members and operations would be compromised and suffered a number of setbacks; a loyal Perseus agent would be betrayed by Arash Kadivar out of jealousy and left for dead, eventually being captured and brainwashed by the CIA to help flush out the Perseus organization and their motives under the alias of "Bell", Arash would be assassinated by the CIA, while a colleague of Volkov's; Franz Kraus is also killed in a shootout with them, Anton Volkov and Qasim Javadi would either be captured or killed by the CIA, and Robert Aldrich and Vadim Rudnik would either be assassinated by the CIA or left alive, which would result in either the failure or success of their missions to spread Perseus' influence in their respective countries.
<tabber>
Canon=In addition to these outcomes, "Bell", having become loyal to the CIA, would eventually reveal the location of the Solovetsky broadcast station, resulting in the facility's destruction and forcing "Perseus" into hiding, his plans having been foiled.
|-|
Non-Canon=Despite this, Perseus' plan would come to fruition when "Bell", still loyal to the Perseus organization, betrays the CIA and misleads them to the Duga radar array. Depending on if "Bell" called in support or not, "Bell" will terminate their former team with the assistance of "Perseus" and his men, or be killed by Adler for their betrayal. Regardless of the outcome, Perseus will be given the opportunity to detonate the nukes, resulting in worldwide chaos and allowing the organization to move on to the next phase of their plan.
</tabber>
===New Leadership===
Sometime in 1983, the then leader of Perseus died from cancer. Vikhor "Stitch" Kuzmin was then left in charge, forced to take the mantle of Perseus for himself.
===Able Archer 83===
On November 9th, 1983, during Able Archer 83, Perseus operators stealthily infiltrate an American facility in the Cheyenne Mountains, and attempt to launch the nuclear warhead being used as part of the base's training simulation. Although the missile launch was aborted, the event deteriorated relations between the United States and Soviet Union even further. 
===Revenge against Adler===
On January 21, 1984, Stitch begins his plot to enact revenge on Adler by firstly attacking a CIA safehouse in West Germany with a squad of Perseus operators, leaving behind a flyer to the Mall at the Pines in New Jersey for Adler to find. Baiting Adler, accompanied by Frank Woods, Zeyna Ossou and Wyatt "Bulldozer" Jones, to the mall by using a civilian target as leverage, Stitch and his men corner Adler and his team shortly after they discover Stitch's cache of Nova 6, where Stitch orders his men to eliminate the others while he personally dealt with Adler. A firefight ensued that led to Woods, Zeyna and Bulldozer being separated from Adler, leading to Adler being subdued and captured by Perseus. Adler would then be taken to Laos and tortured by Kapano "Naga" Vang, before being brought to Verdansk.
On April 19th, Perseus enters a firefight against an assault led by Karla Rivas, with Terrell Wolf and Frank Woods eventually intervening. Naga informs Stitch that NATO operatives have arrived at Laos, with Stitch ordering him to make NATO care about the supposed Nova 6 supply line run by the Golden Triangle Cartel. The NATO team eventually defeats Perseus in Laos, before discovering that the Nova 6 was merely a distraction to Adler's whereabouts - Verdansk.
On June 2nd, Stitch orders operatives Freya "Wraith" Helvig and Roman "Knight" Gray to infiltrate a Soviet base in Yamantau and steal data from the brainwashing project underdone by Nikita Dragovich to Alex Mason, as well as detonating a nuclear device to destroy the mountain. While at Verdansk, Stitch assures to the two operatives that his work with Adler is almost complete, and that Perseus will do "what Dragovich only managed with a single subject" to "entire nations", paving way for a Greater Russia. In an unfortunate turn of events for them, Adler was rescued on June 10, sooner then they anticipated but regardless the plan was already set and still went ahead as scheduled.
On June 10th, Perseus operatives are in a gunfight led by Frank Woods and some other NATO operatives to rescue Adler who successfully extracted him with the scene being recorded whom Wraith, Knight, and Stitch saw. Stitch claimed that they were faster retrieving Adler than predicted and ensured that his 'work' with him is done. Wraith asks if she and the others move forward but Stitch informs the two that satellites are interfering with their broadcast, however he states that the Verkansk test subjects are in place but they are not getting through who Wraith says they don't know what they are up to. Knight suggests that they should press the advantage which Wraith claims that another operative in South Africa is standing by, whom Stitch orders the two to make the call.
On June 26th, Owethu "Jackal" Mabuza and his men assault the Jumpseat satellite ground station in South Africa, where they take one of the technicians hostage. Jackal calls Stitch, who instructed the technician to de-orbit the satellites that would disrupt Stitch's number broadcast. Once the deed was done, Stitch ordered Jackal to eliminate the technician. With the satellites out of the way, Stitch had Wraith make a dead drop in Verdansk for Perseus hacker Kaori "Kitsune" Tanaka to acquire.
On July 23rd, 1984, Kitsune and a team of Perseus agents infiltrated an Echelon NATO listening station on Teufelsberg in West Berlin. Fighting her way to the control room, she managed to hijacked the system and start the broadcast as a team led by Frank Woods and Colton Greenfield arrived at the site. With the broadcast active, operatives of the team started to turn on each other, allowing Kitsune to escape. From Verdansk, Stitch congratulated Kitsune for the successful operation.
Adler's brainwashing would not go as planned, and would begin attempting to destroy Stitch's operations in Verdansk by triggering explosions across the city. After having his mind restored by Alex Mason, the two NATO operators (alongside Hudson and Woods) would deploy to Verdansk.
===Death of Stitch===
 
On August 19th, Stitch visited the grave of the previous Perseus where he was confronted by Adler at gunpoint who demanded he tell Adler where Perseus was. It was then that Stitch revealed that "Perseus" was never one man, and that there had been countless others before the one Adler had been hunting. Stitch told Adler that killing him would stop nothing, and that his work was already complete. Immediately after, Adler would shoot Stitch in the back of the head, killing him.
==Known Members==
Name 	Rank/Position 	Status
"Perseus" 	Leader 	Deceased
Vikhor "Stitch" Kuzmin	Leader (successor to "Perseus")	K.I.A.
Anton Volkov 	Agent 	P.O.W./K.I.A.
Arash Kadivar 	Agent 	K.I.A.
"Bell" 	Commander 	Alive/K.I.A./Unknown
Imran Zakhaev 	Agent 	Deceased
Benito "Fuze" Ortega 	Agent 	Alive
Freya "Wraith" Helvig 	Agent 	Alive
Kapano "Naga" Vang 	Agent 	Alive
Kaori "Kitsune" Tanaka	Agent 	Alive
Owethu "Jackal" Mabuza	Agent 	Alive
Roman "Knight" Gray 	Corporal 	Alive
Franz Kraus 	Agent 	K.I.A.
Qasim Javadi 	Agent 	P.O.W./K.I.A.
Robert Aldrich 	Special Officer 	Alive/K.I.A.
Vadim Rudnik 	Major 	Alive/K.I.A.
==Arsenal==
XM4 Gunsmith Preview BOCW.png|XM4 (only in cutscene)
AK-47 Gunsmith BOCW.png|AK-47
Krig 6 Gunsmith BOCW.png|Krig 6
Type 821 Gunsmith Model BOCW.png|Milano 821
1911 Gunsmith Preview BOCW.png|1911
Knife Gunsmith Model BOCW.png|Knife
AK-74U Gunsmith Model BOCW.png|AK-74u
Gallo SA12 Gunsmith Model BOCW.png|Gallo SA12
M82 Gunsmith Model BOCW.png|M82
RPD Gunsmith Model BOCW.png|RPD
Hauer 77 Gunsmith Model BOCW.png|Hauer 77
RPG Gunsmith Model BOCW.png|RPG-7
LW3-Tundra Gunsmith Model BOCW.png|LW3-Tundra
Streetsweeper Gunsmith Model BOCW.png|Streetsweeper (used only by Stitch)
MAC10 Gunsmith BOCW.png|MAC-10 (used only by Stitch)
Stoner 63 Gunsmith Model BOCW.png|Stoner 63
Magnum Gunsmith BOCW.png|Magnum (used only by Naga)
LC10 Gunsmith BOCW.png|LC10 (used only by Naga)
AMP63 Gunsmith BOCW.png|AMP63 (used only by Wraith and Jackal)
CARV.2 Gunsmith BOCW.png|CARV.2 (used only by Knight)
Hand Cannon Scorestreak BOCW.jpg|Hand Cannon (used only by Jackal)
C58 Gunsmith BOCW.png|C58 (used only by Jackal)
TEC9 Gunsmith BOCW.png|TEC-9 (used only by Kitsune)
==Gallery==
BOCW Perseus CIA Photo.jpg|Perseus, the leader of the Perseus organization.
Perseus discuss 1 BOCW.png|Key members of Perseus gathered in a meeting.
Perseus Discuss 2 BOCW.png
Perseus Patch BOCW.png|A patch of the Perseus logo.
Perseus Soldiers Concept BOCW.jpg|Perseus operators concept art.
Perseus Soldier BOCW.png|Perseus operators gear up in a Perseus safehouse at an unknown area on the 9th of Nov, 1983.
Perseus Soldiers BOCW.png|Fully equipped, armed and ready for action, the Perseus operators leaving the same safehouse they were in.
Perseus Operatives infiltrating BOCW.png
Perseus Operatives snooping about BOCW.png
Perseus Operatives breaking in BOCW.png
Perseus Operatives slit soldiers throat BOCW.png
Perseus sends his regards BOCW.png
Perseus Ruka.png|Perseus opeators in Duga.
COD.CW.Perseus.Rifle.1..jpg|Perseus Rifleman
COD.CW.Perseus.Rifle.2..jpg
COD.CW.Perseus.Rifle.3..jpg|Perseus Rifleman with Krig 6
COD.CW.Perseus.Rifle.4..jpg|Perseus Rifleman behind cover
COD.CW.Perseus.SMG.1..jpg|Perseus Submachine gunner
COD.CW.Perseus.Shotgun.1..jpg|Perseus Shotgunner
COD.CW.Perseus.Shotgun.2..jpg|Perseus Shotgunner in Duga
COD.CW.Perseus.MG.1..jpg|Perseus Machinegunner
COD.CW.Perseus.MG.2..jpg|Perseus Machinegunner with M60
COD.CW.Perseus.Sniper.1..jpg|Perseus Sniper
COD.CW.Perseus.Sniper.2..jpg|Perseus Sniper with Night Vision Goggles
COD.CW.Perseus.RPG.1..jpg|Perseus Operative with Rocket Launcher
Perseus Juggernaut BOCW.jpg|Perseus Juggernaut.
Perseus Operatives 2 S1 Outro BOCW.png|Perseus operators in Mall at the Pines on the 21st of Jan, 1984.
Perseus Operatives 1 S1 Outro BOCW.png|Perseus operators at the The Pines, ready to capture Russell Adler.
Adler vs Perseus Operative S1 Outro BOCW.png|Adler fights a Perseus operator.
Adler is captured S1 Outro BOCW.png|Perseus operators subdue Adler.
Adler brought onto helicopter S1 BOCW.png|Stitch, along with the rest of the Perseus operators out of the Pines brought the captured Adler aboard a helicopter.
Perseus Operatives Laos.png|Perseus operators in Laos on the 19th of Apr, 1984.
KaponoVang Naga CODBlog Promo BOCW.jpg|Perseus operative Naga.
Adler dragged BOCW.png|Adler is dragged out of Laos to Verdansk.
Wraith and Knight arrive S3 BOCW.png|Perseus operatives Wraith and Knight infiltrate a base at Mount Yamantau. 
Wraith takes numbers data S3 BOCW.png|Wraith, under orders from Stitch, steals the numbers data collected by Nikita Dragovich.
Stitch S3 Intro BOCW.png|Stitch, speaking to Wraith on a secure line.
Stitch overlook Verdansk S3 BOCW.png|Stitch overlooks Verdansk, preparing to make way for a "Greater Russia".
Stitch Telling The Engineer About Groundfall BOCW.jpg|Operative Jackal.
Kitsune Bang Bang BOCW.jpg|Operative Kitsune.
Fuze Operator Intro Still BOCW.png|Operative Fuze.
==Trivia==
*Banners featuring the Perseus logo can be found during Modern Warfare II's Atomgrad raid, within a Soviet-Era missile silo and bunker. The same banners can also be found in Modern Warfare III's Payload level.
Category:Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Factions