Category:SPD-31

SPD-31 is a shorthand abbreviation that requires some explanation.

For about seven years, PRIMUS funded a Special Projects branch in an effort to improve the Cyberline process and to find alternative solutions to empower PRIMUS agents so that they could reliably stand against "super villains". The branch mutated as time went on, focusing on pretty much any advancement that could be considered beyond current technology and science. On occasion, Special Projects would hand down directives that would guide the branch's direction for the next month.

Perhaps the most important directive handed down was Special Projects Directive 31. After five years of failing to produce results, the head of the branch was replaced by what could be kindly called a believer in United States supremacy. He had specific issues with UNTIL being permitted to act with impunity on United States soil, while the world tended to prefer that PRIMUS keep its nose within its borders. He took special issues with the creation of UNITY, UNTIL's own special supergroup. He envisioned the creation of twelve new superhumans in the service of PRIMUS, empowered to act on United States interests all over the world. To keep it all in-house, he decided that the best means to gather these superhumans was by utilizing the work done in the last five years and offer twelve individuals-all of whom, for some reason or another, did not qualify for the user of Cyberline-a new chance to be equals to the Silver Avengers, or more.

Twelve volunteers were found. Four had suffered severe injuries on the job, and two of those were on constant life-support. These four would be selected to be transformed into cyborgs of varying degrees. The Director believed that with nothing to lose, they would not object to the dramatic change in their lives; after all, what sort of life did they have now? Four were sterling examples of natural talent; in some way, each was the master of a combat skill. They would not require much-advanced tech to give them weapons that worked within their chosen specialties of battle and some advanced training in their use, and they would likely be exactly what Special Projects wanted.

Then there were the final four, who were asked to undergo an experimental genetic remapping process. From samples from assorted superhumans over the years, geneticists in the branch believed they could "graft" super-powers upon the genetics of the subjects. The volunteers were not told that the process was still in the experimental stages; by the time the branch had gone this far, rumors were already going around PRIMUS about Directive 31, and the Director felt that he needed to move quickly.

The results varied wildly among all twelve. There was little to no issues with the skilled agents; most of their tech was fairly reliable, and didn't require anything too exotic. The newly empowered had a fifty percent success rate; one had snapped as her powers of telepathy overwhelmed her, and one had decided that there were better things to do with the new powers than work for PRIMUS. The two who had come out of the process sane and fit still found odd side-effects from the process that hadn't been anticipated. The cyborgs, however, had the worst of it; only one of them came out of the process in any way considered suitable for PRIMUS goals. One of them committed suicide only hours after the grafting; the other two were put under sedation after violent reactions.

At this point, the PRIMUS leadership finally focused its attention of the Special Projects branch. It immediately rescinded SPD-31, and dissolved Special Projects. The Director had one more card to play, though. He released the seven rational individuals and ensured a severance package that would allow them access any equipment they had been given, with the promise that if they registered with ASPRA as superheroes, they would get full PRIMUS cooperation. The four washouts were to be shipped to Stonghold. (That didn't work out; the telepath realized what was coming, and led a breakout; all four are currently at large.)

While SPD-31 and the entire Special Projects branch is gone, its legacy is still very much in evidence-with consequences that are still unfolding today.