Age of Unrest

It goes by many names-the *Great Unrest*, the *New Dark Ages*, the *Age of Depravity*, the *Great Collapse*, the *Great Decay*-but it is most commonly remembered as the **Age of Unrest**, a period marked by civil unrest and political upheaval in various different countries across the globe.

The exact date that marked the beginning of the Age of Unrest is hard to pinpoint, with many claiming that it started in 2019, although some believe it may have started even further back, during the late 80s-early 90s.

## By country

### United States of America

In America, the Age of Unrest began in 2019, with the onset of the 2019 Religious Riots. In February of 2019, a street preacher began to preach on the grounds of Evergreen Institute. Though the Holy Spirit of God in Him enabled the man to win people over, a majority of the student body responded angrily, perceiving the street preacher as a threat against their Constitutional right to "freedom of religion" and one's right to think for yourself. The street preaching soon came to a head when several Evergreen Institute students organized a mass protest against the street preaching, condemning the street preacher as a threat against the Constitutional right to freedom of religion. Students even complained to campus police about the man, but they did nothing. Still, the street preaching persisted, and on March 5th, Evergreen Institute students resorted to heckling and booing street preachers that preached to the institute. Still, the street preaching persisted and the students, fed up with the prosletyzing, angrily pelted the street preachers with food scraps and snowballs (during snowy weather). But their efforts seemed to be in vain: he still came back. This incensed students Doug Harris and Mathilda McCullum, who banded together and a couple of other fellow angry students decided to "go on the offensive", organizing a huge protest against the preachers. When the preachers persisted, McCullum and her fellow students resorted to verbal slander and condemnation, which soon attracted students all over the Evergreen Institute, many of whom joined the demonstration. Protesters began chanting slogans like, "Let Freedom Ring" and "Death to Religious Dogma!" One student even chanted, "Hail Satan," just to troll the street preachers. This soon escalated into a riot when the students began angrily throwing melted snow at the street preacher in an attempt to drive him away.

One day, Evergreen Institute student soon learned that Metallica would be playing a concert in Downtown St. Louis, and that the street preachers may be preaching there as well. As some of the students wanted to attend the concert, it was decided that some of the students would attend the concert, while others launch a protest against the street preachers. Sure enough, the street preachers were on the concert grounds, preaching against heavy metal and denouncing it as "Satanic music." This was the last straw for students Doug Harris and Mathilda McCullum: Harris, McCullum, and a couple of other fellow angry students launched a massive demonstration and publicly shamed the street preachers as they preached to the masses. When the preacher persisted, McCullum and her fellow students resorted to verbal slander and condemnation, which soon attracted other concertgoers who were also perturbed and angry that the preachers were ruining the show for everyone. Eventually, this escalated into physical violence when one student began physically assaulting the street preacher out of annoyance, at one point managing to destroy one of the signs carried by one of the preachers. From there, the demonstration became a massive brawl-millions of people swarmed the preachers and physically assaulted them, cursing their "fundamentalist" agenda, and at one point someone used a blowtorch to set the signposts regarding Christian doctrine of the Last Judgment on fire while another participant angrily shredded a banner proclaiming the wrath of God while shouting, "LONG LIVE FREEDOM!"

The incident soon attracted worldwide attention via the Internet, with thousands of students live-streaming the event on Facebook and uploading video footage of the incident on YouTube. One particular YouTube video, shot by Maglio, went viral, with Edward's footage, titled "The War Begins Here...." attracting millions of views seemingly overnight. Edward himself even became a poster child for the "Freethought Revolution".

Due to Edward's footage going viral, millions of people across the nation spoke of the video. Edward's footage was even broadcast live on various news stations. In addition to re-igniting the controversial debate between the right to protest and hate speech, Edward's video footage of the Metallica Concert Demonstration sparked a new debate as to whether street preaching was in itself a violation of the Separation of Church and State as declared in the US Constitution. The nationwide community as a whole was divided: some in the international community applauded the actions of the participants of the demonstration as "warriors of free thought", while others denounced the demonstration as an infringement on freedom of religion and a showcase of bigotry and hate speech. Edward himself eventually spoke publicly regarding allegations that Edward was promoting "hatred against Christianity", claiming that it was not his intention for the demonstration to become a riot and that he was merely showcasing to the world the people's right to freedom of expression. He also insisted that he had no part in assaulting the street preachers (which the video footage clearly shows; Edward did not physically assault anybody at any point during the demonstration), though he readily admitted that he participated in the verbal shaming of the street preachers during an interview with Fox News.  Edward's viral footage also inspired other students and various other people to hold similar protests against street preachers: one student at the University of California Berkley posted on YouTube a video of a similar demonstration against Oneness Pentecostal preachers preaching against a heavy metal concert. Another student recorded himself angrily cursing and ranting against the Westboro Baptist Church, while another young man recorded an incident involving an angry mob vandalizing the Westboro Baptist Church building itself.

In May of 2019, America decided to (unofficially) declare war on a new terrorist group known as The Eternals, a narco-terrorist organization that had effectively taken over the nation of Venezuela. It began with the kidnapping and murders of an American CIA agent and a British MI6 agent, as well as the kidnapping of two tourists, Carolyn Maynard and Olivia Martin. Fearing that two women would end up like the American and British spies if they weren't rescued, tourist Edward Maglio joined forces with some of his friends and the elusive British assassin known as Deathshade to rescue the hsotages and destroy the cartel/terrorist group.

The events of February and March of 2019 were perceived by some as the beginning of a more democratic society. However, in the eyes of various religious groups, these events seemed to spark what they called "the Age of Godlessness." In the summer of that year, the town of Arcadia was almost completely wiped out thanks to a new species of carnivorous parasitic organism. Although the US government tried to suppress the truth behind the outbreak, the existence of the parasite and the truth behind the outbreak was eventually exposed to the world thanks to a US-based hacker circle, an animal rights movement, four former US soldiers turned private mercenaries, and a group of tourists.

In December of that year, reports of a mysterious new virus emerged from Wuhan, China, A year later, in 2020 the situation worsened, as the virus appeared in the United States and eventually spread to other parts of the world, causing a global pandemic. Many local governments across the country ordered lockdowns and citizens were urged to socially distance from each other, as well as refraining from touching the face or mouth or eyes after handling objects.

In May of 2019, America decided to (unofficially) declare war on a new terrorist group known as The Eternals, a narco-terrorist organization that had effectively taken over the nation of Venezuela. It began with the kidnapping and murders of an American CIA agent and a British MI6 agent, as well as the kidnapping of two tourists, Carolyn Maynard and Olivia Martin. Fearing that two women would end up like the American and British spies if they weren't rescued, tourist Edward Maglio joined forces with some of his friends and the elusive British assassin known as Deathshade to rescue the hsotages and destroy the cartel/terrorist group.

The events of February and March of 2019 were perceived by some as the beginning of a more democratic society. However, in the eyes of various religious groups, these events seemed to spark what they called "the Age of Godlessness."

A year later, in 2020, Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, having been defeated by Joseph Biden. Unfortunately this didn't go over well with the American public. Months into his presidency, Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris were overthrown in a violent coup and executed on charges of treason against the United States. Replacing Biden and Harris were former US Army general Charles Shepherd and his wife Elizabeth, who were immediately installed as President and Vice President respectively following the successful overthrow of the Biden administration.

America changed dramatically under the Shepherd Administration.

### Patruydan

Patruydan
In the nation of Patruydan, which was wracked by civil war for years, an American tourist by the name of Martha Barnes attempted to find her missing friend Rose Harvey, only to be arrested at the border by soldiers loyal to the tyrannical government there.

Martha was soon rescued by the Free Patruydan Movement, led by Gopal Khamavant, the resistance leader and friend of Martha's father Lawrence Barnes. Gopal and the rebels then launched an assault on the military garrison as a diversion to aid Martha's escape. Martha's rebel escorts got into a car chase with the pursuing government loyalist forces, which ended with an armored truck ramming Martha's rebel getaway car off the road, killing the rebels assisting her escape.

On her own, Martha was instructed by Gopal to make her way to a radio tower on top of a ridge. While on her way there, Martha revealed herself to be quite a formidable opponent against the loyalist soldiers, swiftly dispatching them with little to no effort using martial arts skills atypical of a mere tourist. Martha was successful in reaching the radio tower Gopal directed her to. Gopal and the rebels warmly welcomed her into the rebel movement, much to Martha's surprise, as she wasn't formally affiliated with the rebels.

Later a Royal Army death squad sent by King Badal's loyal generals to kill Martha attacked the rebel-occupied bell tower. Once again, Martha demonstrated an unusual set of skills and her amazing display of combat prowesss, impressing even Gopal, whom Martha later saved from an avalanche triggered by explosions that went off during the gunfight. Realizing that he had found himself a valuable ally, Gopal recruited Martha into the rebels on the spot.
Martha then spent the next few months conducting sabotage operations against the Royal Army Ground Forces, the main military of the government loyalists, earning herself a name in the Patruydanian community. She eventually became infamous after aiding the equally legendary Five Deaths in taking down a whole fortress full of enemy soldiers in order to rescue Rose Harvey.

### Venezuela

*Main articles*: Venezuelan Civil War and War on Los Eternos

After years of operating in Colombia, Ramón Hurtado, leader of the massive cartel known as the Santa Rojo Cartel, sought to expand his operations to Venezuela and across the globe. He sought to gain support the same way he gained support in Bolivia: by bribing or killing rival cartel leaders.

In 2018, Ramon claimed to have received a vision from the Lord Jesus Christ, telling him to establish a new Earthly kingdom in South America until He returned. Believing the vision and its implications, he decided to move his cartel to Venezuela in 2019, where he repeated the process of bribing or killing rival cartel members in Venezuela to further expand his cartel. When the government took notice of this, the Venezuelan military was deployed to combat the threat.

Ramon attempted to charm the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, into turning a blind eye on the activities of the cartel. Maduro refused to bargain, and a couple days later, Maduro was assassinated by the cartel, which then proceeded to execute a violent coup in Venezuela, effectively taking over the country.

Later that same year, US government responded by sending in a CIA operative to investigate the cartel, now known as Los Eternos. Unfortunately, his cover was blown and the agent was captured and tortured to death. Days later, six American foreign aid workers were murdered by the cartel, their bodies on public display in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. A week later, a British MI6 agent was also found murdered by the cartel, after having spent months collaborating with rebels to sabotage the new cartel-run government.

Because the United States government didn't get involved at this time, various foreigners decided to take it upon themselves to aid the rebels in the war. This, however, gave El Toro a chance to seal the country off from the outside world in order to stop the rebels from reaching out to the international community for help. To that end, a no-fly zone was established over the entire country; any aircraft that ended up in Venezuelan airspace would be immediately shot down and/or intercepted. To that end, the Soldiers of Liberty went to Venezuela to aid the rebels. During one notable incident, Marcus Smith, field commander of the Soldiers of Liberty, led a team of operatives tasked with silently infiltrating a Division 9 outpost. However, the mission went horribly wrong when their cover was blown, leading to a a firefight that led to the deaths of Liberty operatives Jake Douglas, and Jon Hersom. The survivors, guided by FVPA leader Rodrigo Carballal, escaped to Bolivia, where they hid with Rodrigo's brother Julio Carballal.

Eventually to go on the offensive, the US and United Kingdom finally declared war on the cartel, with both MI6 and the CIA deploying covert operatives to fight the cartel; the CIA deployed a joint CIA-JSOC-DEA hit squad, with support from the United States Armed Forces, with orders to dismantle the cartel from within, while the British sent a team of MI6 agents supported by the British Special Air Service, known as Task Force Viper, for the same reason.

At the​ same time this was happening, Ramon Hurtado's son Guillermo set up an empire of his own in Bolivia, hoping to start up some new offices there to please his father.  Meanwhile, Los Eternos and Division 9 learned that the Soldiers of Liberty had fled to a mountain safehouse in Bolivia. A large strike force led by Division 9 officer El Comandante invaded the country, intending to lay siege to the safehouse in order to kill everybody inside and burn the safehouse to the ground. Unfortunately, the operation failed when the Division 9 troops greatly underestimated the number of rebels defending the safehouse and were massacred. Taking advantage of the firefight, the Soldiers of Liberty escaped Bolivia.

Meanwhile, back in Venezuela, a young woman was kidnapped by Los Eternos during a business trip. When her brother, her sisters, her uncle, and her father found out, they went to the police, only to realize that they were on the cartel's payroll when they did nothing to investigate the kidnapping. In retaliation, Edward and his friends decided to take the law into their own hands. They formed an alliance with anti-government rebels and waged a full-blown war against The Eternals, seeking to dismantle the terrorist organization for good, as well as rescue Olivia and Carolyn from their clutches. The next few months were spent seeking out and killing various people in Los Eternos who had a role in the kidnapping.

While Edward Maglio and his Righteous Crusaders fought Los Eternos as part off a vigilante crusade, the Central Intelligence Agency-led Task Force Anubis was deployed to Venezuela, tasked with killing or capturing each of the cartel lieutenants within Los Eternos, intending to work their way up to El Toro and eliminate him. However, much to the CIA's bewilderment, many of the cartel heads had been already eliminated and/or captured previously by the Righteous Crusaders, though the CIA initially believed they were the work of Venezuelan vigilante gangs supporting the rebels.

This frustrated the CIA-until they were able to get their hands on Kyle Bates, a friend of Edward, after they were able to save him from a cartel death squad. Initially believing he was a cartel defector (which is actually partially true because Kyle attempted to infiltrate the cartel as a new recruit, only for his cover to be blown, which forced him to flee the cartel), the CIA interrogated him about allegations that the cartel was using rogue former Special Operations soldiers from across the globe to train their army of *sicarios*, which Kyle was attempting to gather information about to give to the rebels in order to allow them to sabotage it.

Kyle, at a loss for words and assuming his rescuers were mutual friends of the rebels, spilled the beans on El Lobo, a former United States Special Forces operative, who was later revealed to be Oscar Brown, a traitor to his country. He also covertly informed Edward of his situation, leading to a surprised Edward surmising that the rebels had hired mercenaries to help them as well.

However, following another encounter with the team of undercover operatives, Edward's uncle Barry recognized some of the operatives in the strike team, leading him to realize that they had stumbled upon a CIA strike team (though he chose not to inform Edward to avoid compromising their undercover status).

A rather unexpected partnership blossomed between the Maglio family, the Anubis operatives, and the rebels, a partnership that proved to be a menace to the Eternals as the organization decimated the cartel.

Edward's uncle, Barry eventually soon found evidence that three other captives-American tourists Olivia Martin and Carolyn Maynard, along with Carolyn's daughter Jade-had also been taken along with Marsha Maglio and he tracked them to a deserted mine outside Anaco, Venezuela. During a reconaissance of the mine, the Righteous Crusaders fell victim to a an ambush, courtesy of El Lobo himself, who taunted them in an attempt to demoralize them during a shootout between the Eternals and the Righteous Crusaders. Mason attempted to flank El Lobo, but was ambushed by another one of his henchmen and engaged in a fistfight with the attacker while Edward continued to exchange gunfire with El Lobo. This continued for at least four minutes before their guns ran dry.

Edward and El Lobo engaged in a brutal hand-to-hand fight that saw El Lobo beating down Edward before the latter was able to overpower and kill El Lobo. Simultaneously, Mason Davidson, a Righteous Crusader seeking to save Edward's life, attempted to flank El Lobo, but was ambushed by another one of his henchmen and engaged in a fistfight with the attacker, only to be saved by a masked figure hiding in the cavern. After defeating El Lobo, Edward was able to free Olivia, Marsha, and Carolyn, before passing out from his injuries. He later awoke to find himself at a Venezuelan rebel camp/makeshift hospital, being tended to by rebel medics and the masked man, who introduced himself by the name of Deathshade and revealed that he was being hired by a rich rebel family to assist in the war. While at the rebel camp, Edward was told that Jade Maynard, Carolyn's daughter, had been moved to another location, much to Carolyn's distraught.

Jade was tracked to an underground cavern owned by a death cult known as the Sons of Santa Muerte. With help from the rebels, the Righteous Crusaders battled their way through the cave and rescued Jade Maynard, who was safely returned to her mother afterwards.

During the course of the Righteous Crusaders' campaign against the Eternals, they obtained evidence that Division 9 was involved in an extensive illegal weapons trafficking network, one than ran from Bolivia to Patagonia. They also heard of a particular individual who had gone missing while investigating said weapons trafficking ring.

Meanwhile, Task Force Anubis obtained evidence of the Eternals running a human trafficking/child trafficking ring, with the intention of using the human trafficking victims/trafficked children as slave labor to mine a new rare earth mineral found in Venezuela, which the Eternals planned to use to create better weapons. They also found evidence of a possible connection between Division 9, the Eternals, and unknown Russian mercenaries, much to the shock of the Anubis operatives. After an encounter with a team of CIA operatives and discovering an inability to take out both criminal enterprises on their own, both factions agreed to work together to take out both the human trafficking ring, and the weapons trafficking network.

Codenamed Operation Cemetery, the strike had two stages: Operation Eagle Strike and Operation Armadillo.

Operation Eagle Strike was a stealth operation coordinated by Barry Maglio and CIA officer Maritza Sparks/White Widow against a Division 9 outpost near the village of San Cristóbal, Venezuela: after speaking with fellow Anubis operative Larry Robbins, codenamed Badger, Barry, Ava, the Anubis squad, and Natalie linked up with Anubis operative, codenamed Cain. They then began stealth-killing their way through the outpost, but were eventually compromised by Division 9, but not before obtaining intelligence concerning the sale of military hovercrafts and helicopters possessing optical camouflage abilities to Division 9. Hijacking the hovercraft, Cain, Barry, Ava, and Natalie were able to successfully get the vehicles and the weapons shipment to an Anubis hideout in San Cristobal. Impressed with their skills, Badger personally complimented Barry and his nieces for their efficiency and commented that they probably saved millions of Venezuelan rebels and their families with their daring operation. They also analyzed the blueprints and discovered evidence of a conspiracy to wage cyberwarfare against the United States of America, as well as committing cyberterrorism.

Operation Armadillo was a second strike against Division 9, this time aimed at an underground Division 9 headquarters, FOB Armadillo (also the namesake of the operation), serving as a hub in the human trafficking/weapons trafficking network run by corrupt Division 9 agents and Los Eternos cartel members. With help from Barry Maglio, Edward, Mason Davidson, Kyle, Harper Michaels, and Olivia Martin infiltrated the base, only to run Arrowhead and the CIA team. As the Righteous Crusaders and the CIA operatives investigated the underground Division 9 hideout, both groups of fighters found scientists working in the facility, unconscious but alive. However, they found dozens of dead Division 9 operatives, indicating that someone had beaten both teams to the facility and had essentially massacred the Division 9 soldiers. Puzzled, both Edward and Arrowhead wondered who would be capable of doing such a thing, since the rebels were incapable of such an act and that Los Eternos members wouldn't dare launch a full-blown assault on such a carefully guarded place.

As the Righteous Crusaders continued forward, they eventually encountered Corvus, a former US Special Forces operative turned freelance hitman/vigilante warrior who was also seeking to shut down the illegal weapons trafficking ring/human trafficking ring, and Costanza Romano, also known as La Angel De Muerte, who was on a mission of her own exacting retribution against both the cartel and Division 9.

The two of them were eventually led to documentary filmmakers Kate Adams and Trevor Darvany, who were abducted by Division 9 after it was discovered Kate and Trevor were making a documentary in an attempt to expose the organization's corruption to the world.

Following this, Division 9 soldiers were heard advancing on the underground base, alerted by others about what Corvus and Costanza had done. What followed was a brutal massacre of thousands of Division 9 agents as Corvus, Trevor, Costanza, Kate, and Eddie's family escaped the underground facility.

After extracting Kate to a nearby safehouse, Kate was able to divulge information regarding the weapons smuggling, revealing that Division 9 was trafficking a cyber-weapon intended to be used against Apex Corporation, as well as captured Apex Corporation technology; Division 9 intended to reverse engineer the tech to create their own remote controlled drone weapons, which they were intending to sell to the Russians. In addition to this, Kate divulged the existence of La Battalon Fantasma, the Ghost Battalion, which formed Los Eternos' "secret police". Leading the organization was a mysterious indvidual known as La Serpiente Blanca, whom Kate also revealed to be an enforcer loyal to El Lobo. According to Kate, La Serpiente Blanca and her fellow assassins were conducting a vicious killing spree across Venezuela, covertly asssassinating anyone suspected of exposing the truth behind Los Eternos to the world, in an attempt to control the local population through fear.

Following this, while regrouping at a CIA safehouse in Canaima National Park, Edward Maglio and his buddies took some time to get to know Kate Adams and her partner Trevor Darvany. Suddenly, Los Eternos executed an ambush, sending in a team of Ghost Battalion assassins led by the mysterious assassin La Serpiente Blanca to attack Edward, his family, and the two journalists. In the ensuing firefight, Trevor was killed. Corvus assisted Edward in holding off the assassins while the CIA team led by Arrowhead evacuated Kate.

However, Arrowhead herself was shot by La Serpiente Blanca, stalling her. Before La Serpiente Blanca could finish her off, Edward charged in, along with his uncle and his siblings, and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight against the ruthless assassin. Although Edward and his family were able to hold their own, they were eventually overpowered thanks to La Serpiente Blanca's superior training. The assassin was moments away from killing Marsha when Edward ambushed her from behind, knocking her mask off in the process and revealing herself to be none other than Danielle Terry, a friend of Edward's who had gone missing earlier that year.

A stunned Edward wondered aloud how and why Danielle betrayed him, only for Danielle to retort that it was "nothing personal" and tried to kill Edward by shooting him in the head, but was forced to retreat when Kyle Bates fired a grenade launcher at her.

Edward was unable to speak or move for about two whole minutes before an injured Arrowhead snapped Edward out of his state of shock. Eddie and his family eventually escaped the area, before Los Eternos reinforcements arrived.

After reaching another CIA safehouse in the Venezuelan Mountains, Edward took some time to assess the situation; he was both stunned and horrified to learn that his friend had turned on him. Kyle pointed out that Danielle's behavior was indicative of Stockholm Syndrome, which led Edward to realize that Los Eternos had kidnapped Danielle and brainwashed her the same way they tried to brainwash Marsha. This led to a rift between the Magliio family and the CIA team; Arrowhead argued that Danielle needed to be killed because she had become a traitor, but Edward was convinced there was a way to snap Danielle out of it and return her to her old self. Arrowhead pointed out that snapping someone out of Stockholm Syndrome was difficult and there was a possibility that, given that she was held captive for months, the Stockholm Syndrome would be permanent. Edward, however, was determined to find a way to get his friend back to her old self. At around the same time, Emilia Guillen and Callum White, two prominent members of Los Eternos, were assassinated: Emilia Guillen was gunned down by Corvus during a firefight against Los Eternos fighters. Callum White, a US bush pilot for hire, was shot down over the Venezuelan Mountains, where he was killed in a shootout with FVPA guerillas. The next day, several more assassinations dominated the news headlines: first was the death of Alonzo Alvarado, who was killed in a drive-by shooting perpetrated by Costanza Romano. Next was Agustin Alcocer, who was assassinated by Father Rose with a car bomb. Later, Corvus kidnapped Nadia Hurtado while Nico Gayoso, a prominent blogger for the cartel, was assassinated by Black Manta, another hitman and a friend of Father Rose. This killing spree eventually culminated when Miguel Barrios, an excommunicated priest and spiritual advisor of the cartel, was assassinated via car bomb by Father Rose while the CIA was trying to capture him alive.

By this time, El Toro knew full well that the Maglio family and their allies were laying waste to his cartel and soon vowed to exact his revenge against both the Maglio family and the United States government.

Now obsessed with vengeance against the United States, El Toro hatched a plan of his own that he hoped would draw the Righteous Crusaders, the CIA, the team of hitmen, and the rebels into one place, where he hoped to kill them all in a deadly trap. To that end, he deployed the remnants of his men to kidnap Maritza Sparks. He then broadcast a message to the world, publicly announcing to the international community that he was going to murder the CIA agent as a show of "strength" against the United States and her allies.

The kidnapping was successful; Maritza was duped into sending her team into an empty hunting lodge devoid of intel, and in the ensuing ambush, the CIA team was nearly killed. Meanwhile, Los Eternos gunmen kidnapped Martiza after incapacitating the CIA hit team in an ambush. On national television, El Toro plotted to execute Maritza in front of the entire world at a hunting lodge that Los Eternos transformed into a hideout. However, the CIA hit team, the rebels, the Righteous Crusaders, Corvus, Black Manta, Deathshade, and Father Rose were able to reach the hotel, where a bloody shootout occurred between Los Eternos and the joint team of fighters. Despite suffering heavy casualties, the team was able to reach the lodge, where they shot down El Toro's helicopter as it attempted to leave the premises while Edward rescued Maritza Sparks.

Martiza told Edward that El Toro was plotting a partnership with other cartels and various criminal gangs. In addition, El Toro had forged an alliance with the Babylon Coalition, only to betray them when he violated his end of the bargain he'd made with them. Before she could elaborate, Maritza was shot in the back and killed by Bradley Houghton, who was in turn subdued and incapacitated by Edward following a brutal fistfight.

Arrowhead then warned Eddie that he was being targeted by La Serpiente Blanca, who had orders from El Toro to kill him, and that El Toro was attempting to recapture Marsha, with plans to publicly execute her to make her an example to the United States government. If El Toro failed to capture Marsha, she was to be assassinated by La Serpiente Blanca. Angered at El Toro's brainwashing of his friend, Edward raced to find Marsha before La Serpiente Blanca could, only to be confronted with La Serpiente Blanca herself on the upper floor of an apartment building. Eddie attempted to snap Danielle out of El Toro's mind control, but Danielle remained silent. Danielle then abruptly assaulted Edward, assailing him with throwing knives while shooting at him. Edward was able to disarm Danielle, but the latter pulled out a combat knife and attempted to stab Edward multiple times. While under attack, Edward pleaded with Danielle to stop and think about what she was doing, but was ignored. After beating Edward down, Danielle claimed that she was in love with El Toro, which Edward dismissed as a symptom of Stockholm Syndrome. When Danielle promised that she'd prove to Eddie that El Toro's alleged "love" for her was real, Olivia Martin intervened, corroborating Edward's arguments by revealing what Marsha said about Los Eternos brainwashing people. Angered by what she perceived to be "ugly lies" about El Toro, Danielle angrily assaulted Edward, beating him within an inch of his life while calling him a "terrible liar." Moments before Danielle could kill Edward, the latter slid his phone out of his pocket, revealing that he videotaped Los Eternos' attempt to brainwash Marsha. Danielle watched the footage and, coming to her senses immediately, was apalled at what she'd seen. Disillusioned, Danielle collapsed and stared at the footage in shock, horror, and anger. Finally realizing Edward was right, Danielle stared into Edward's eyes and admitted that she always wanted to get a look at the life of a drug cartel, and she now regrets her wish.

Following this, El Toro personally led a manhunt to recapture Marsha Maglio, while Edward and the CIA team raced to get to her first. Confronting El Toro inside an abandoned hotel, El Toro engaged in a shootout with the CIA team, which resulted in the death of CIA asset Rooster.

El Toro eventually recaptured Marsha Maglio, then attempted to blackmail Edward and his team into surrendering by threatening to throw Marsha off the roof to her death if they refused. Edward was able to bluff his way out, before Marsha attempted to break free from El Toro, who easily overpowered her and knocked her unconscious. He was then shot by CIA asset Okapi, who was then gunned down and killed in cold blood. He then pulled out a knife and attempted to stab Edward, but the latter was able to disarm him. The drug lord then engaged in a vicious fistfight against Edward, which ended with Edward emerging victorious, killing El Toro by breaking his neck with one punch.

With El Toro dead and a majority of the cartel decimated, Edward and his family returned to the United States, with a new reputation among the Venezuelans as cunning guerilla fighters that struck fear into the hearts of the cartel.

With the fall of Los Eternos, Division 9 took control of the government and eventually rebuilt itself, transforming Venezuela into a militarized police state, which was ten times worse than Los Eternos' dictatorship. Division 9 eventually became an augmentation of both the Venezuelan military and Venezuelan police, and began to oppress the local populace, subjecting them to tyranny and thus transforming Venezuela into a dictatorship. In an attempt to hide its corruption, Division 9 eventually cut Venezuela off from the outside world and began brutally oppressing the local populace nationwide, blackmailing locals to keep them quiet and to prevent them from contacting the outside world for help. However, a new team of Americans entered the country, intent on fighting the new dictatorship.

Against overwhelming odds, Jane the Ripper and her nephew Edward Maglio were able to expose the truth behind Division 9 to the world, turning the entire free world against Venezuela. Russia even sent covert aid to assist the rebels. However, after a mission gone wrong, a Russian GRU assault team was mistakenly left behind in Venezuela, presumed dead by the rest of the government and their own families. In addition, Division 9 was able to expose the existence of British MI6 and American CIA agents also supporting the rebels and began a nationwide purge, deploying *Policia Morale*operatives to hunt down and kill British and American spies hiding in the country, in addition to foreign journalists reporting on the new Venezuelan crisis under Division 9.

### Usnistan

The nation of Russia invaded Usnistan along with Turkey back in 1996, and by 2019 the war had ground to a bloody stalemate, with either side making any headway in the conflict.

In 2016, the United States and the European Union both decided to send covert aid to Usnistan to aid the rebels in fighting the Turkish and Russian invaders; the Americans sent a team of Central Intelligence operatives to train and fight alongside the rebels while China, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the European Union sent military advisors with special forces backgrounds to train militia fighters in assymentrical warfare. On the Russian and Turkish side, Iran and the United Korean Confederation, sent their own military advisors to aid the Russian and Turkish forces.

In early autumn of 2016, Task Force Anubis, a CIA hit team, was deployed to Usnistan to aid the rebels in conducting sabotage operations against the Russian occupation. On Halloween, October 31, 2016, Anubis operatives under field commander Arrowhead coordinated a full-scale assault on Russian forces occupying the city of Bajuliyah, Usnistan. Their first mission was to recapture Bajuliyah Airport from the Russian military, which converted the airport into a forward operating base for their soldiers upon capturing it during the invasion.  The assault on the airport was co-led by rebel leader Hiba Al-Sadeh, who fought alongside the Anubis operatives. The joint-strike team was able to decimate the Russian forces occupying Bajuliyah Airport and even defend it against reinforcements. It was the first time that Americans collaborated with the rebels against the Russian occupation. After repelling the attack, Arrowhead and her men set up a radio jammer at the airport to disrupt Russian radio communications across the occupied territory.  Following the capture of Bajuliyah Airport, Arrowhead's team once again assisted Hiba and her fellow rebels against the Russians to liberate Bajuliyah proper. Following an intense firefight, Arrowhead and Hiba were successful in recapturing the village, albeit with help from British MI6 agents also deployed to help the rebels.

Years later, in 2019, the Soldiers of Liberty, a multinational paramilitary force, sent volunteer soldiers to aid the rebels alongside the CIA. During a mission gone wrong, Carlyn Smith was captured by the Russians alongside rebel leaders Abdullah Al-Safi and Hiba el-Saadeh. The Russians tortured the three for information about a rebel leader known as the "Desert Devil" (a name given to both Hiba herself and Carlyn Smith). Taking advantage of the confusion, Carlyn lied to the Russians to save Hiba's life from executiion, claiming that she was the Desert Devil. The Russians fell for it. Both Carlyn and Hiba eventually escaped Hell's Gate, using a prison riot as a diversion to slip away undetected. They eventually met the Five Deaths, who helped them escape to allied-occupied territory. Upon learning about this, Colonel Nikita Gromov, commander of the Russian occupation forces, gave the order to execute "War Plan Alpha", which called for the deployment of a Russian Spetsnaz unit known as Brown Bear to find and execute any suspected rebel sympathizers across the Russian-occupied territory.

As the war dragged on, things took an abrupt turn with the 2019 Coup against Presidant Erdogan. Thanks to a coup perpetrated by Turkish Ultranationalist Saygi Uzan, who opposed Russian President Vladimir Putin and was sympathetic to the Usnistani National Militia, the nation of Turkey turned against the Russians, with Saygi's loyalists in the Turkish Armed Forces giving the order to kill any Russian soldiers on sight. Under new President Saygi Uzan, as opposed to fighting *against* the Usnistanis, Turkey now fought *alongside*them, giving the Usnistanis a valuable ally.

With the combined efforts of a now pro-Usnistani Turkey, and the militaries of the USA, European Union, Canada, and various other pro-Usnistani countries, Russian forces were repelled from Usnistan.

### Turkey

In the nation of Turkey, a coup was executed against the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The man who replaced him, a democratic ultranationalist named Saygi Uzan**,**replaced Erdogan's government with a democratic ultranationalist government that launched a purge of any pro-Erdogan citizens within Turkey, revoking them of their citizenship and getting them forcibly deported to other lands.

### Bolivia

*Main article:*Bolivian Conflict

*TBA*

### China

In 2020, things were looking bad in the People's Republic of China. After a coup against Chinese President Xi Jinping by Communist zealot Jiang Guanyu. The anti-American Communist extremist soon enacts a new order in China, titled Directive 66, which called for the arrest or outright execution of any American nationals in the country, convinced that America's influence on China has corrupted it and that its "imperialistic people" needed to be purged from the nation if China is to return to its "glory days" as a Communist country. As part of the directive, he cuts ties with the United States, ending all trade relations with the United States, which results in a Second Great Depression in the United States of America.