For the similarly named project concocted by MI6, see Operation Invisible Man.
For the project with a similar purpose concocted by Herod Sayle, see Operation Stormbreaker.
| “ | One after another the players crumpled. The soldiers were shouting, gesticulating. What was happening was impossible, there was no enemy. Nobody had done anything. But eighteen healthy athletes were collapsing in front of their eyes. | ” |
—The effects of Invisible Sword |
||
Operation Invisible Sword was a project spearheaded by Julia Rothman and created by SCORPIA. It was the first attempt by SCORPIA to make the world fear them.
Objective[]
It aimed to kill the children in England if the demands SCORPIA gave to the Prime Minister were not met and end Anglo-American relationships once and for all.
Invisible Sword was also planned to strike at New York some time in the future.
Method[]
The "Invisible Sword" were billions of gold nanocapsules filled with cyanide and injected into their target's blood. The capsules were activated by using terahertz radiation to break up their shells, releasing the cyanide and leading to death in a few minutes. SCORPIA had first demonstrated its effectiveness by killing a squad of athletes without the presence of physical soldiers, and they were successful despite the British authorities ramping up security for these athletes with significant amounts of military personnel, as well as MI5 and MI6 agents. The organisation also arranged for the authorities to find a decoy, which was fake satellite dishes set up on a building, and then planned to raise the radiation emitter dishes on a hot-air balloon, so the government wouldn't find them until it was too late to stop them.
Outcome[]
When Rothman found out about Alex Rider's betrayal, she sent Nile onto the hot air balloon, which Rider had already hijacked. Meanwhile, an SAS squad stormed the church where SCORPIA was carrying out their plan, and a firefight broke out between the two factions.
In the air, Alex Rider sabotaged the hot air balloon, and when Nile confronted him, he used the assassin's fear of heights against himself. Rider eventually attacked a gas canister which ignited itself when it touched the burner. The canister sprayed flames at Nile, setting him aflame and causing him to fall to his demise. After he destroyed the basket, which was critically damaged, Rider floated away with the balloon. The basket eventually crushed Rothman just as she escaped from the church, killing her. The satellite ultimately failed to kill the children. As for the ground battle, the SAS killed or captured most of the SCORPIA men.
Aftermath[]
Their first plan having been a failure, SCORPIA orchestrated the assassination of Alex Rider, but the marksman hired to shoot the boy narrowly missed hitting a vital spot and was killed himself. Winston Yu was later told to spearhead a new mission: arranging for a tsunami to hit Australia to stop a conference from taking place in an attempt to regain SCORPIA's reputation.