A CIA agent, the "Protagonist" (John David Washington), participates in an extraction operation at a Kyiv opera house. Ukrainian forces have made the CIA operative and have staged a hostage situation to kill the operative. The Protagonist's instructions are to bring him in or kill him. After seizing an artifact, A masked soldier wearing a red trinket saves his life by "un-firing" a bullet through a gunman. the Protagonist is then captured by mercenaries. He is tortured and consumes cyanide. He awakens to learn the cyanide was a test of loyalty; his team has been killed and the artifact lost.