While providing security detail in an unnamed African country for its prime minister, N'Mani, Maverick operative Raiden and his team are attacked by Desperado, a rogue PMC involved in terrorism. While Raiden fends off Desperado forces, their de facto leader "Sundowner" manages to kidnap and execute the premier. Sundowner's comrade, "Jetstream" Sam Rodriguez, fights and defeats Raiden, severely damaging his cyborg body. Raiden barely survives, and Doktor later gives him a new black cyborg armor that grants him much more power.

Three weeks later, Raiden infiltrates the breakaway nation of Abkhazia after learning that Desperado is leading a military coup there. He plans to capture Andrey Dolzaev, an extremist leading the Abkhazian forces, to force Desperado into standing down. Desperado anticipates the move and assigns a prototype AI designated LQ-84i to stop him. Raiden defeats LQ-84i in combat, and later has it rebuilt as an ally, naming it Bladewolf. He faces further opposition from Mistral, the commander of Desperado's forces in Abkhazia. After Raiden kills Mistral in combat, Dolzaev commits suicide by blowing up an oil tank he is standing on.