Operation Desert Shadow

Operation Desert Shadow refers to a plot by a group of terrorists to kill all of the major leaders of the world, ultimately ending with control of the free world in their hands. Originally they were known only by their moniker The Silent, but after much investigation by two top agents of Dangerusque Headquarters, Agent Danger and Washington, the group was able to stop them before their plan came in effect.

Initial Investigation, Baltic Coast & Johannesburg
In 2015, Washington was sent in to secure some weapon intelligence in a Russian Airbase near the Baltic Coast, said to also be housing a terrorist threat known then only by the code name Weltschmerz, meaning 'world weariness'. Washington was able to access the compound, reaching the intelligence only to be attacked by both Weltschmerz himself and his right hand man Mewes. Even with the two getting the jump on him, Washington was able to escape from their attack.

Washington was ordered by Yerrick that he needed to capture Weltschmerz alive and Washington closed in on his attackers. With a flashbang catching them off guard, Washington was able to neutralize Mewes and take Weltschmerz into DHQ custody.

Upon returning to the Headquarters in America, Washington was immediately sent out on another assignment. Thinking that the Weltschmerz fiasco with the weapon intelligence to be complete, Washington was assigned with tracking down and killing another threat known by the codename Ashburner. Arriving in Johannesburg, Washington found the informant with the intel on the terrorist, only to be attacked by a group of rebels in a town centre, causing the informant to be kidnapped.

Washington pursued the rebels by car, speeding after to try and rescue the intel. After a long chase the rebels threw the informant out of their car, causing him to fall right into Washington's speeding path. Washington acted quickly and threw a tracker on their car, ultimately pursuing them to a diamond mine miles away from Johannesburg.

Washington snuck around the mine, avoiding all confrontation and was able to learn that Ashburner has left Johannesburg and was able to steal the intel the informant had on him, previously stolen by the rebels. With Ashburner not being in the area, Danger and Yerrick called Washington home as Weltschmerz said he'd speak with Washington, and Washington only.

Attack on DHQ, The 4 Artifacts and an Unlikely Alliance
Arriving home, Washington delivers the intel on Ashburner to Agent Danger and heads in to interrogate Weltschmerz about what he may know. Weltschmerz remains passive for most of the conversation, giving out little information until Washington lets it known that they have already shut down all of the weapons Weltschmerz and his men were operating in Russia. He responds quickly, telling him that this is just the beginning and if he wanted a little taste of what was to come he should act quickly to intercept a meeting between a terrorist group known as The Silent that was happening miles away from DHQ.

With DHQ's approval Washington headed to an abandoned Solstice weapon plant, where the supposed meeting was taking place. The factory was empty and Washington found nothing of importance. After looking for hours he heard the sound of a record being played. When he investigated the music he found only an empty board room with a lone file folder sitting on the table. Inside the file was merely a letter that said 'Kings Will Fall', causing Washington to reel back away from the table as it exploded from a small bomb.

A group of Weltschmerz elite agents dropped into the factory, causing Washington to fight for his life. As he tried to eliminate all of the elite enemies, Fro Bro radioed in that DHQ was under attack and that help was needed right away. Washington was not able to evade his attackers and was ultimately knocked unconcious.

Back at DHQ Danger and Yerrick attempted to defeat their own attackers but ultimately proved unsuccessful. Yerrick was kidnapped by Weltschmerz and The Silent's men, and they escaped with crucial intel information that Danger tried to secure that contined information leading all the way back to The Guild's day about The 4 Artifacts. Agent Danger narrowly escaped an explosion from a grenade thrown by Weltschmerz and the terrorists fled the scene believing all the agents to be dead. This was mostly true, as only 8 agents remained, including both Danger and Washington.

Knowing about the dangers of what was to come, Agent Danger sought out an unlikely alley. Undercover Danger boarded an airplane to England and walk to the head manufacturing plant of Ryker Weaponary. There he met up with Edgar Ryker, a known threat to DHQ and ally of The Suit, who was the enigma known to be in control of The Red Mask.

Danger was able to convince Edgar about the threat that The Silent posed to not only DHQ, but to Ryker himself and the The Suit, as that is who the terrorists would target next. Danger explained that although they had limited intel on the situation, this group had some sort of reach that nobody could forsee and they accomplished it all from the shadows, only coming into play when Weltschmerz wanted it to come into play. Ryker let Danger stay at the Ryker HQ for the time being, the two of them going over the intel together.

The Rise of The Silent
Washington would awaken to find himself being held captive in the diamond mine near Johannesburg, bound to the floor with Ashburner preparing to torture him. As he was being tortured and interogated, Washington was able to let it slip from Ashburner what The Silent was attempting to do. They were leading a revolution, bringing back the Red Hand's ideals of universal freedom through terror, that would run across the entire world. They would strike soon, first taking down the leaders of the world, both political and power, and then they would use the 4 Artifacts to become near immortal and kill all who opposed.

Ashburner planned on killing Washington until he received a call from the other members of The Silent. Ashburner was told that he needed to bring Washington to a hidden location only known as The Monolith alive as Washington was the key to tracking down Agent Danger. Washington was able to realize that The Silent knew that Danger would immediately seek to protect the remaining masks and that Ashburner himself wasn't nearly as important to The Silent as he claimed he was.