The Founding
Due to the constant hindrance presented by regular units trying to adhere to old methods of beating citizens until resistances fall out of their pockets and constant audits with the sector Commander due to his inability to get in line with the rest of the units and adhere to protocol and regulations, he finally established an appeal [[See Addendum 1]] to the Commander, in an attempt to solidify his efforts. This led to the establishment of the VICE subdivision. A division that was responsible for clandestine affairs, forensics, and criminology. A dedicated anti-citizen persecution squad. Success Rates were through the roof, and their only superior was the Commander himself.
It came to a point where a Squad Leader requested rogue checks in their division. The moment Mikhail had awaited. He agreed to this on the condition that the Squad Leader would vote for one of his units as the new Squad Leader when a spot became available. Events transpired, and it became so. VICE now had a Squad Leader of their own kind in the ranks of the rest of the Metropolice Force, which allowed reform. The foundation for a political house of cards had been built.
Operation Genesis was planned and came into execution. Pardoning citizens who were scheduled for amputation in exchange for them turning informants. They'd be granted proper living conditions and a steady pay for information. It didn't take long until entire resistances consisted of pure informants, as anybody else had been eliminated.
Priding himself in never having to beat answers out of people, and rather resorting to rhetorical devices and manipulation to achieve his goals, Mikhail was not prepared for what came next. The appointed SqL, 777 AkA Lucky, had apparently raped a woman. Not only that, but forced her into his own Squad. It was by order of a higher-up that Mikhail had his hand forced. Watching the man he forced into power for his own needs, break under the immense pressure. Watching this man walk willingly into the incinerator as Mikhail looked through the green-tinted security glass. Watching as the man he considered a brother place the very .357 Magnum VICE had confiscated from an Anti-Citizen and gifted to him to congratulate him on the title as Squad Leader, to his own temple and pulling the trigger as Mikhail pressed the button. Blood spraying on the glass and the flames engulfing the corpse as the blood boiled on the security glass. This changed something in Mikhail.
The Outlands
Tracking a known resistance cell into the nearby Outlands surrounding Industrial Seventeen, Mikhail and a portion of VICE enlisted into the Outlands Police Unit, establishing X-RAY Division to be an on-the-move, highly adaptable version of VICE. All members being granted Elite Protection Unit rank, uniforms, and equipment.
The chase for this resistance led them around the immediate region and lots of time alone for Mikhail. Time spent camouflaged with a Walter 2000 rifle, keeping an eye on refugee hideouts. The storm clouds covering the region made the Overwatch incapable of airdropping in, and as such X-RAY and the OPU were trying to establish an on-site transhumanization facility. Intrigue followed as rogue units surfaced, trying to ensure the procedure to transhumanize was tampered with to allow for rogue Overwatch allied with Vignette Opposition, one of the most incognito and hidden resistance organizations known of.
It was also in the Outlands Mikhail initiated a relationship with a borderline insane and psychotic female EpU named Alice Palmer. Intrigued by her personality and temper. This led to a year-long psychosexual affair, that left both of them worse off. Mikhail trying to help Alice become more stable emotionally and psychologically, caused Mikhail himself to adopt some of her traits. Their emotional bond overriding Mikhail's own logical and rational frame of mind and forcing in him a cognitive shift that he would never recover from.
A lot of intrigues transpired, and the details of the Outlands are hazy to everyone, including Mikhail himself. Rogues were deserviced, undercover work was conducted, and even fellow X-RAY members not approving and trying to sabotage the undercover work.
Mikhail himself took two 7.62 shots to his right calf from a Walter 2000 by resistance members, forcing him to receive a prosthetic replacement.
It was a bloodbath on both sides. Friends and colleagues dying at any given moment. Resistance artillery raining down on the frontlines, SWORD units being cut in half by machine-gun fire and bullets flying to all sides. Nobody was safe. Nowhere. A fellow X-RAY unit, trained from recruit and mentored by Mikhail, turned on him in an attempt to convince the resistance she was rogue.
Mikhail became addicted to amphetamine. The resistance was relentless. This was their turf and he needed any advantage he could get. Unable to sleep, thinking about what the resistance might be scheming during his hours unconscious drove him into a frenzy. A blood-fueled trance. Amphetamine helped with keeping him awake and thinking more clearly.
They came to the Outlands to hunt the resistance but ended with the resistance hunting them.
The resistance was never uncovered. All interrogations came up empty. Vignette utilizing only callsigns, codes, and nobody knowing anybody else by name. Never coming into contact with the command structure of the resistance made them virtually impossible to catch. Everything was done by dead-drops and messengers. Never the same place twice.
It was a trial by fire. Where men were separated from the boys. The boys either died or begged to be transferred back to the City and everyone walked away scarred for life. Acquiring habits that would die hard. Returning to the city would prove a struggle. An adaptation that would prove difficult, if not impossible. Like a veteran returning from Vietnam.