A direct spin-off from the CIA’s Project MKULTRA (a program which did covert research into mind control using American citizens as test subjects), Project COLDSTREAM applies the knowledge gained through MKULTRA to run the ultimate black-ops unit – a unit so secret that even its own operatives don’t know who or what they are!

Originally employing a complex regimen of drugs and hypnosis before switching over to more modern and reliable methods such as implanted microchips, Project COLDSTREAM is able to remotely activate its myriad ‘sleeping’ agents with a special code-phrase whenever and wherever they’re needed.

Subjects are ‘recruited’ for the program based on their mental acuity, levels of physical fitness and susceptibility to post-hypnotic suggestion, among other things. Typically, promising individuals are identified through a combination of medical records (medical history, dental records, psychiatric evaluations, optometric prescriptions, etc.), intercepted signals intelligence (telephone, SMS, email, fax and other data traffic monitoring) and in some cases, direct observation.

Once marked, the subjects are approached and surreptitiously drugged to put them in a more receptive mental state before being taken to a facility for microchip implantation. They are then returned home once the operation is completed to continue on with their lives until if and when they’re needed.

An operative can be activated by a code-phrase delivered either aurally or visually such as through a phone call, a radio broadcast, a television program, an email or text message or during a walk-by face-to-face meeting. From there, the operative will go to a pre-designated dead drop to receive his or her assignment and any equipment they may need. Once the assignment is completed, the programming is deactivated by another code-phrase and the agent is free to return home.

 

The man once known by his Project codename 'Dakota', but who now goes by the alias 'Krieger' was once such an operative who suddenly found himself in the Project’s sights and was marked for death. It turned out his secret second life was slowly bleeding into his first in the form strangely vivid dreams, something which the Project was none too happy about as soon as they discovered how much he knew. 

Activated one last time for a ‘mission’ in Nigeria, Krieger was betrayed and shot in the back by his teammates who then left him for dead. However, one of the bullets struck and damaged the implant grafted to Krieger’s spine, allowing his training and fierce survival instinct to resurface. Fighting his way out of the country and back home, he took his newly-discovered skills and knowledge and put them to work, adopting the identity of a masked, costumed mercenary in order to bide his time until he could discover who burned him and why.

He regularly engages in such crimes as fraud, armed robbery, blackmail, extortion, kidnapping for ransom and even murder in order to fund his private investigation, and also hires out these "services" to others for a hefty fee. He is certainly not a hero and has almost no redeeming qualities other than professionalism and brutal efficiency. Shifty and paranoid, he looks upon all others with extreme suspicion and doesn't allow himself the luxury of trusting anyone. He has been trained to be cold, calculating and emotionally distant, and never feels guilt or remorse for his actions. To him, the ends always justify the means.