"Operation: Zero Tolerance" was a crossover storyline that ran through Marvel Comics' X-Men related titles during 1997. The story followed from the "Onslaught Saga" and focused on individuals, including Bastion and Henry Peter Gyrich, within the United States government and their attempts to use their positions to hunt and kill all mutants across the country. Within the story, the program is known as "Operation: Zero Tolerance". Build-up to Operation: Zero Tolerance Lead-in Before the Onslaught crossover, Bastion introduces himself to high echelons and foreign disgnataries in a secret meeting in the sub-basement of the Pentagon. He gives hints that whatever Onslaught is, he threatens both humans and mutants. As for the "mutant problem", he offers the services of his project, "Operation: Zero Tolerance". Bastion has also started operations to escalate human-mutant frictions and accelerate his "Zero Tolerance" plan, as well as pulling political strings with Valerie Cooper to use X-Factor (led by Forge at the time) as his personal "mutant militia". Aftermath of the Onslaught Saga Most of the core non-mutant superhero teams (the Fantastic Four, a number of the Avengers and Bruce Banner), along with the surprising aid of Doctor Doom, in the Marvel universe "sacrificed" themselves in order to help destroy Onslaught by leaping into his body, which consisted of raw energy at the time. The only superheroes who were left outside of Onslaught were all mutants who could not enter into Onslaught due to his ability to siphon their powers and a handful of non-mutant superheroes including Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Dr. Strange that were not present at the battle. Members of the X-Men were then left to physically attack Onslaught directly and eventually succeeded in destroying him and in the process, seemingly those who had leapt into his energy form as well. Bastion has invested time and resources in Graydon Creed's anti-mutant campaign in order to expedite his own anti-mutant plan: "Operation: Zero Tolerance". Professor Charles Xavier surrenders himself to the United States government (represented by Valerie Cooper) and is taken to a secret location, where he is subject to Bastion's interrogation techniques. The assassination of Graydon Creed The disappearance of non-mutant heroes led to a great amount of distrust being harbored toward all mutantkind. Shortly thereafter, Graydon Creed, a presidential candidate and outspoken proponent of mutant hatred, was assassinated by what was meant to look like an energy blast of some kind. This escalated humanity's festering