Plot
Ten years have passed since Nathan “RAD” Spencer, the Bionic Commando,
managed to defeat the Imperials and destroy their secret weapon, the
Albatross, in the events of Bionic Commando Rearmed. In the aftermath, Spencer and his comrade Joseph “Super Joe” Gibson were praised as heroes by the entire nation.
TASC,
the military intelligence organization that provided Spencer with his
Bionic Arm, soon found their bionics program in great demand. Now under
the command of Joseph Gibson, the organization flourished, and many
other operatives were enhanced with bionic parts.
As the original Bionic Commando, Nathan Spencer became responsible for training these new operatives. At the same time, Spencer began to undertake a series of high risk, covert operations. On one such mission, codenamed Operation Blackout (the events of which are detailed in the comic book Chain of Command), Spencer’s sense of justice came into conflict with the orders from his superior and friend Gibson.
In refusing to kill two rogue bionic prototypes, Spencer disobeyed a direct order which ultimately led to the deaths of several TASC agents. Spencer was court-martialed, convicted of treason, and sentenced to death.
As Spencer rotted on death row, his conviction changed
the public’s view on bionic technology, and opinions on the subject
became divided. Pro- and anti-bionic factions arose out of this
dissension, and what started as a debate over morals descended into
civil unrest.
The issue came to a head when a Presidential
directive was issued to shut down the controversial bionics program. In
what came to be known as the “Bionic Purge”, TASC’s bionics program was
closed, and TASC personnel with bionic augmentations were ordered to
turn in their bionics or have them forcibly removed. But this
heavy-handed tactic backfired, as pro-bionic followers rioted, and many
of TASC’s bionic operatives chose to flee instead of giving up their
artificial parts.
The chaos eventually subsided, and the bionic technology was purged from the nation. Pro-bionic followers went underground, and the nation once again knew peace. Until today...
