Story Projects

Gung Ho Woman Project - Part Three: BTDE

America and its people decided it was time to gut most of the leadership at the federal level. In 20XX conservative candidate, Deaux Schexnayder won the presidency against liberal President, Peter West. After two terms of the previous President, anti-American rhetoric and violence surged in parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. 

For four years, President Schexnayder became the nation's most highly rated president in the country's history and the most controversial. The day after Schexnayder was sworn in, he signed dozens of executive orders that focused on holding many governmental officials accountable for how they poorly ran the country for the past eight years. Many people were fired or sent to prison for failure to uphold the Constitution, and breaking laws that went uncontested for years. His work didn't stop there. He pursued federal law enforcement like the FBI, CIA, and ATF in the same manner. His "Federal Purge," as most media news called it, caused the majority of the country's civilians to question government entities and their purpose of serving the people.

Near the end of Schexnayder's presidency, an alarming number of violent acts doubled. Riots, protests, violence, shootings, and an unruly number of various ill manned activists spiked. They sought to harm government officials, have the President impeachment, and violence on anyone who supported the current government. Many became categorized as domestic terrorist/violent groups. The gutted law agencies weren't able to keep up with the influx of violent criminal acts because they were still rebuilding new policies and hiring new management. The President foresaw this problem and planned to form a new enforcement agency at the expense of civilians' privacy to ensure they could be protected more efficiently before the threat has a chance to make its move.

Months before Schexnayder won his second term, the United States Department of Justice formed a new federal law enforcement and global counter-terrorist agency that would work in and outside the country in places they were needed. A few months after Schexnayder won his second term, the agency was from after an uncordial debate lasting days. The Bureau of Terrorism Detection and Enforcement Agency was formed (BTDE).

Billionaire military veteran Curtis Stafford became the head of the agency. He built three buildings, spanning three states. In Saltlight Texas the BTDE created a science facility to research the potential capabilities of nanotechnology. Westbrook Flordia built a mega complex for weapon research and development. Lastly, Westacre California is where they built the headquarters. It took almost a year to build each building altogether. Each city had its own force of highly skilled agents but the bulk was in Westcase. The first few employed agents were the best of the best the BTDE could find. People who worked in special military forces, PMCs, and intelligence were the first to be employed. Next came former federal agents and law enforcement, then it became open to the general public.

After two years, the BTDE assisted many law enforcement agencies all over the states and some in countries in Europe with their uptick in organized violence. Even though they were praised for doing a good job, not all incidents could be prevented. Acts of violence managed to happen despite the efforts of the BTDE to help out. One incident went under the noses of BTDE, FBI, and the local police in Elderrest California. A protest took over a busy street, shutting all traffic in the area. Their mission was to call for the mayor of that city to resign after his poor response in dealing with a chemical convoy ancient near a heavily populated neighborhood. Agitators later identified as the "Sisterhood," bombed protesters and riot police with pipe bombs. Thirty people died that day and over one hundred people were injured. My closest friend, Shannon Wright, was among the deaths. She was a part of the protesters.

I nearly lost my life on that day. I was one of the riot officers blocking one of the routes the protesters wanted to go through. After the bombing, I woke up in a hospital without my limbs. My doctor told me my life as I would know it would never be the same. I would have to live with someone doing everything for me. I hated the thought of living like that. I told him I would rather have someone blow my brains out.

Weeks later, a man named A'dez Randolph visited my room after checking out all the other victims of the bombing. He took pity on me once I explained where my life was headed to. He visited me on serval occasions to check me. I was confused at first why I was getting all the attention, but I stopped caring. His company lifted my spirits. I learned he was a veteran like me, a former cop, and an agent for the BOTE. Then on a Friday morning, he came with a woman named Veronica Miralles. She was a nanotech assistant for Rose O'Brian at the Texas research department. She believed their work could replace the limbs I lost using their nanos. It sounded like an impossible feat but it was a better offer than the road I was going down.

They flew me down to Texas to their research building once I was able to be discharged from the hospital. They didn't test the nanos on me until my wounds healed. Even after that, they put me through physical therapy to see if there were any other nerve damage. They found nothing and went ahead testing prototypes they were going to use for their agents. I had to wear several sticker microchips on my neck so Veronica could map out my brain to sync with the nanos. She wanted the nanos to simultaneously from shapes without any discrepancies like odd shapes.

After many months and failed attempts, Rose got four working nano sleeves for each limb. They had a snug fit. She made them permeable yet antimicroable, so I could theoretically wear them forever without needing to take them off when I shower. She slid them on me like a sock then swapped the old chips we were using with a newer one. When she turned on everything, I felt what I could only explain as a sense of touch. Somehow for a moment, the nanos gave me the ability to feel again. For so long I couldn't feel a damn thing that the sudden sensation scared me. I jumped and stared at my black, mechanical hands. I couldn't feel them yet I sort of did. It was the phantom anomaly of feeling something that isn't there.

The agency helped me return to a life I could return to California if I wanted to. I chose to stay in Texas and became a special agent of the BTDE. Since I was out of commission for months, I had to retrain my body, mind, and understand new concepts as an agent. It took me five months to graduate. I was the top in my class. It was their tradition that the top student gives a speech. A'dez, Veronica, Rose, and the CEO Mr. Stafford were sitting front row. I had nothing grandiose to say but I made a promise to bring the people who orchestrated the bombing that killed my friend to justice.