B.R.A.S.S. Programme

The Biologically Rebuilt American Super Soldiers (B.R.A.S.S.) Programme was a classified government experiment with the designated goal of creating a specialized force of extremely durable soldiers. Started after the end of the cold war under the command of General Montgomery O'Hare, the project was to be both a precaution against future Soviet aggression and a nation security task force of deployable, clandestine spies and operators. Though the process showed some results over the years it was active, it was ultimately a failure, as the serums used in the process instead created uncontrollable and unpredictable mutations known as the Ivyspawn (named for their progenitor Poison Ivy. After an attack on the main facilities by the rival Cybernetics Corp project, the programme was at last shut down, with the then leader General Frank Miller reassigned to form the Heels Agency out of it's ashes.

## History

### Initiation and Early Days

B.R.A.S.S. was first created some time in the early-to-mid 1990s, as the Cold War began to wind down and come to a close. While the public believed relations between both East and West were improving, those in the higher recesses of the U.S. Military and Government were concerned that longer term prospects for peace were grim. Investments in the next form of warfare began, one of which was the B.R.A.S.S. programme. The chief goal of the project was to create specialized soldiers, through specialized means,
capable of infiltrating and extinguishing any flash point before it exploded,
and thereby contain any future Soviet threat. Partnering with a chemical conglomerate, the military began investigating new methods of pushing human's physical limitations, through powerful drugs and new training regimes.

With the basic premise tested, the programme was entrusted to the management of General Montgomery O'Hare. Some time after it's inception, General Frank Miller was reassigned to the position of second-in-command after being shunned from the rival Cybernetics Corp programme. Candidates for the programme where sought out from around the globe, regardless of origin or creed, including US Military, allied intelligence agencies, police forces. In extreme cases, talent individuals from the former Stasi, the Taliban and even professional assassins where taken in. For the next decade the project continued in it's attempts to build the perfect soldiers.

### Pamela Isely and Initial Successes

After a number of years and several partial successes, the covert research group had reached a roadblock in its duties. They had shown improved results in their training of soldiers, but nothing significant enough to build an elite fighting force upon. They redoubled their efforts on the chemical front. Their exterior research partner continued to develop unique serums, mostly thanks to their talented chemist Pamela Isely, who's work was being used to help guide the programme unbeknownst to her. The more B.R.A.S.S. supplied her employers with new feedback and requests, the more suspicious she grew of what her serums were being used for. She began to investigate herself, until she came to learn of the research group. Whilst breaking into one of their facilities to uncover evidence, Pamela was captured and detained by B.R.A.S.S.

In return for human comforts during her indefinite detention, Pamela continued to work on the serum and so the project continued. Yet more progress was made, but only at the expense of Pamela herself. She began to test on herself, even using her own blood as the bases of a new mutagenic serum, in hopes of escaping her captivity. She was herself mutated into Poison Ivy. She gained supernatural powers of charm and seduction, he personality was completely altered, while her body began to grow a moss-like covering she could control at will. Even her natural hair turned to a vivid pink. She was the first success of the B.R.A.S.S. project, and soon after her improved serum was replicated and dispersed for all the other candidates.

### Complications

While Poison Ivy was a complete success in her own right, the same could not be said of the other candidates. Most of those exposed to her blood serum suffered ill effects, only 5 or less people showed no signs of damage. The mutagen had a devastating effect on the human Y chromosome, turning all the men who where tested upon into uniquely monstrous creatures, including Subject 32. On the other hand, the women who underwent testing manifested equally unique side effect, akin to superpowers, not unlike Poison Ivy. Invisibility, heightened reflexes, precognition, fire control and camouflager skin were all effects the serum created in the women test subjects. They didn't escape unharmed however, as many suffered damaged minds and insanity, while others became mutes, schizophrenic or even homicidal.

B.R.A.S.S. suffered a major setback in this new chaos. General O'Hare was killed by the first of the monsters and so control of the future direction was left to General Frank Miller and the work continued. He clashed with Ivy in his attempts to reign in the test subjects, who were now seen as liabilities. The effects of the mutations originated with Ivy's Blood, and so to her those exposed to it had become like her children, now called Ivyspawn. She referred to them her sons and daughters, and it became her chief concern to see them safe by any means. Before they could be killed off like a sickly limb, she would see to it that B.R.A.S.S. would be destroyed first.

### War with Cy Corp

After several years in parallel development and several years since the official end of the Cold War, the Military was ready to focus in on one vision for the future. It was between the B.R.A.S.S. programme and the Cybernetics Corp as to which would be completed and which would be expunged from existence forever. Despite the crisis that had hit B.R.A.S.S. with the unstable mutations, with a clear cut success in Ivy herself, they were considered the more successful of the pair. Up until now, the Cy Corp had only produced a few units of enhanced soldiers, and they still struggled with drawbacks of their own such as a weakness to water exposure. It was generally accepted that the Cy Corp would be shutdown and erased, it's candidates included.

Using her charms and ability to manipulate events, Ivy was able to make contact with Cy Corp members even whilst in B.R.A.S.S. custody. Promising them that they would be the project to see advancement if B.R.A.S.S. was to come to harm, she lead them into scheming for a way to ensure their survival. Going rogue, a number of cyborgs, including Captain Cameron Stone, raided the main facilities of their rival programme, destroying their research, killing many of the scientists, and against Ivy's designs, slaughtered many of the Ivyspawn. In the chaos, many Ivyspawn managed to escape, including both "super-powered" women and a batch of male monsters. A number of cyborgs where killed in the process too, but Stone and his platoon escaped an untimely end as well.

## Outcomes and World Influence

The B.R.A.S.S. Programme has been one of the most consequential world events of the beWilderverse to date. Though secret and not known to the general public of the world, many long lasting effects have sprung from its history and events, including but not limited to the following:

* After the raid on B.R.A.S.S. by rogue elements of the Cy Corp, both programmes where ultimately discontinued and erased. All of the cyborgs except for the already rogue group including Captain Stone were "decommissioned", or otherwise killed, to cover up the failures of the plans. The same is true for any uncaptured Ivyspawn. Both research teams were expunged from official history.
* General Frank Miller was reassigned and tasked with cleaning up the messes made as commander of the new Heels Agency, which would later morph into a legitimate nation security and spying agency. Poison Ivy, along with many other Ivyspawn, including Quiet, Mystique, Dyana Carson and Subject 32 escaped into thin air.
* Bad blood has persisted between Ivyspawn and the remaining cyborgs since the attack on B.R.A.S.S. The cyborgs believe they were tricked by Poison Ivy into attacking their rivals, which lead to the bulk of their members being killed for the efforts and their project being axed. Ivy in turn feels betrayed by the cyborgs as many of her children were unnecessarily slaughtered in the raid. Both factions bare murderous grudges against each other still.

## Involvement

### Agents of Heels: Misadventures of Agent Romanov (AoH: MoAR)

The B.R.A.S.S. Programme and it's legacy plays a central role in the conflicts of *Misadventures of Agent Romanov.* As the game progresses, the protagonist Natasha Romanov becomes more wrapped up in the attempts at retribution by Poison Ivy against General Miller and Heels for what became of the Ivyspawn, all while discovering her own hidden past with the project itself.

* ***Main Article: Agents of Heels: Misadventures of Agent Romanov Plot Synopsis***

## Purpose and Goals

The purpose of the B.R.A.S.S. Programme was as its name suggests, to create a process in which American Super Soldiers could be come a reality, specifically through means of improved physiology and biological methods.

Beyond the stated goal of the research, the broader goal of the project, along with it's sister project of the Cybernetics Corp, was to create an elite fighting force for the American Military. The aim is to give the West an advantage in fighting and containing potential Soviet/Russian treats, with the use of powerful spies and operatives that could extinguish any potential flashpoint in the world before they ignited, in contrast to the large armies needed during the 20th century conflicts.

The programme was only in part successful.

## Organizational Structure

The B.R.A.S.S. Programme was a simple top down hierarchy, lead from above by the overseeing General. Originally lead by General Montgomery O'Hare until his death, leadership then passed to the second in command General Frank Miller.

Below the General level, the teams of research scientists were lead by a chief science officer. Beneath this role were a number of small teams of scientist working on specific aspects of development for the project. It is unknown to what extent or how many individual scientists were involved in the programme.

After Ivy was taken into custody within the main facility of B.R.A.S.S., the formal structure of the science teams were subverted in favor of her work in leading the development of the serums.

### Leadership/Management Style

General Montgomery O'Hare was the original appointed leader of the B.R.A.S.S. initiative. Under his guidance the project made slow but steady advances, despite his conservative and somewhat risk-adverse planning.

After taking control over the project, Miller's style of leadership is unconfirmed due to conflicting reports of compassion and tyranny to date.

### Membership

#### Key Leadership

* General Montgomery O'Hare
* General Frank Miller

#### Known Test Subjects

* Pamela Isely, aka Poison Ivy
* Quiet
* Mystique
* Dyana Carson
* Michael Malloy
* Ricardo Mendoz
* Subject 32

#### Suspected/Potential/Rejected Test Subjects

* Natasha Romanov, Suspected Ivyspawn
* Lara Croft, Rejected Candidate (Internal Request)

### Area(s) of Influence

The work carried out during the years of B.R.A.S.S. testing and development mostly focused around a number of small blacksites in and around the greater New York City area.

#### Associated Locations

* The Abandoned Hospital facility who's location was contained within the stole Agency files in linked to the work done at B.R.A.S.S. While it could be a secondary testing site, indicator point to it possibly being the main facility where much of the project's history took place. It is also the site of the death of Dyana Carson.
* A secondary lab facility in New York city is also linked to the programme. It was here that Natasha Romanov was infected by Poison Ivy's blood serum in the early stages of *Misadventures of Agent Romanov*.

## Appendix

### References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Stated by General Frank Miller in *Agents of Heels: Misadventures of Agent Romanov*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Demonstrated in *Agents of Heels: Misadventures of Agent Romanov*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Stated by Captain Cameron Stone in *Agents of Heels: Misadventures of Agent Romanov*
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Stolen Agency Files, *Agent of Heels: Misadventures of Agent Romanov*
5. ↑ Stated by Poison Ivy during *Agents of Heels: Misadventures of Agent Romanov*