The Division|IC

[TheGreyWarden]

"What will it take to save what remains?"
OOC
​

New York City. The city that was the symbol of America through it's history. From the Statue of Liberty to the Empire State Building, it shows how far American got from being rebels to the most powerful people in the world. The city also had creative and smart people within the city, to show off the creative side of the city. No matter what happened to the city, it will still stand tall and proud.

That wasn't until The Black Friday outbreak happened. The entire city fell into chaos, people turned on each other, and power and supplies disappeared quickly. From Javier Cranford, this was heartbreaking to see and hear as he had been living in New York City from his entire life with his family until he left for the army. The city was fine before he had left, the traffic was terrible, the JFK airport was busy with planes going and leaving. How much he wished to be stuck in the New York traffic again.

The subway tunnels were empty in a bad way, because there would usually be sounds of a train or some homeless dude near a fire. The darkness and the silence of the tunnels made him feel uneasy as there was nothing but the tunnel that would lead straight to the Grand Central Terminal. He kept walking along the tracks until he saw a flare on the ground, still working as the orange light source was blight. He walked towards the flare until he heard someone called out the code:

"Mike November Yankee Charlie."

Javier didn't know what the code means, all he knows is that if someone said the code out loud, then they were apart of the squad. Headquarters is still in damage control from the outbreak, trying to send out other agents across the country is hard shit. He repeated the code to the only other guy in the tunnel and the guy said to him in a serious manner, "You must be Newcastle then."

Newcastle shook his head as he advanced towards the guy and said to him, "But, you can call me Javier if you wish to."

"I'd rather call you Newcastle." the man said as he began to walk pass Javier, "And by the way, my name is Ghost." Ghost kept walking away from Javier and towards the rendezvous point. Javier sighed as he whispered to his self, "Not one of those guys." and walked towards Ghost.

Ten minutes of walking later was met with Javier's phone buzzing like crazy. He quickly grabbed the blue tooth headset from his jacket pocket and slipped it on. "Go ahead HQ."

"Confirm your identity before we talk." the mysterious voice said clearly and in a serious manner, like Ghost did. Javier said his code out loud as Ghost turned to see what Newcastle was doing. "Alpha 114 Bravo Xeta Epsilon 251." There was a brief moment of silence on the other side. He already knew whoever was talking to him was punching in his identification code. Javier walked towards Ghost with the headset still on and waiting for the voice to come back. Ghost waited for Newcastle to come towards him, so they can continue the walk.

As soon as Javier met with Ghost, they began to walk again to the terminal. A minute later, his phone buzzed again as Javier answered it. "What's your ETA to the rendezvous point?" the voice asked Newcastle. Ghost placed down a device, which projected onto the ground and showed their location. The hologram map also showed Grand Central Terminal near them. Javier looked at the map and then said to the voice, "Around five to eight minutes."

Ghost grabbed the device and placed it back in his backpack as he and Newcastle kept on walking. Javier asked the lady about the two other agents and the status on them. The voice said, "They are on their way. Just meet at the rendezvous point and then head somewhere safe. Communication from this point forward will be kept to a minimal. The Division will feed updates and priorities to you periodically via the CaT and your Echo. Good luck, Agent Cranford and Agent Winstead."

Ghost sighed as he heard his last name and saw Javier's grin. "Winstead. Nice last name, Ghostead." Javier said in a funny manner and kept on walking as he could hear Ghost's disgusted noise at the mashup of his code name and last name.

Another five minutes of walking got them to Grand Central Terminal as Javier and Ghost saw how empty it was. It was odd for them to see one of the places with the most traffic be so empty. They got up to the station as they felt a sudden chill and realized that the place lacked any power. Javier saw the stairs and said to Ghost, "Come on, let's go up the stairs and wait for the other two agents to show up."

He raced up the steps as he got up to the top before Ghost, who was walking slowly up the steps. And the upper floor, the main floor with the famous clock on it, was also abandoned. Javier grabbed one of his flares and started the flare up as he threw it towards the clock, hitting the metal support of it. He turned around as soon as he saw Ghost finished with the walk upward and said to him, "Alright, this is our rendezvous point. We will split up and look for supplies at one of the many shops and restaurants near us. However, don't leave the terminal."

"Alright, Newcastle. I will go to the balcony level and check the restaurants at the level." Ghost said as he walked away from Newcastle to scout out the level. "Okay, then. I will check out the Lexington Passage. Good luck, Ghost." Javier said as he walked towards the passage.​

 

[CalibansEnthusiast]

"Got movement," a voice whispered in Michael's ear, the voice of his sister Chloe, on the roof and scanning the streets for movements. Michael tensed, until, "disregard. Stray kitty."

He shook his head, continuing his search and clearing of the terminal. The brother-sister team had been tasked here by higher, to link up with another SHD pair traveling via the subway. Chloe had taken the roof, providing overwatch as her brother searched the area for survivors, food, and other supplies. Glancing at his Division issued watch, he noted the time was near when the other pair was supposed to be at the terminal.

With his Vector held high, he stepped lightly through debris and detrius of abandoned life. He cleared the Oyster Bar, the oldest establishment in the terminal. The pristine and beautiful marble was marred by blood and cracked pieces. Would not take a seasoned investigator to figure this one out. Two people had shot it out, one had lost. Kneeling, Michael touched his gloved hand to the man's face and closed his eyes, before prying the gun out of his hands. A knockoff Beretta nine millimeter. Extracting the magazine and racking the slide, he got three rounds for his effort. Withdrawing a plastic sandwich bag, he dumped the shells into it and resealed it before tucking it away. Their new teammates might need them, after all.

Michael moved to head back towards the central, iconic terminal when he saw a shadow move against another shadow.

"Princess, stand by. Our contact may be here," he whispered. Raising his Vector into the general area, he called out softly, "Mike, November, Yankee, Charlie," to the shadows.

Chloe abandoned her perch and moved down the stairs, into the terminal. She wanted to be close if Michael was wrong and a shootout developed. She knew he could look after himself, but they would both feel better with the firepower of the M4 at their disposal. She moved as fast and as quiet as she could, hoping to take up a flanking position. She noticed a flare burning near the still ticking clock.

"Angel, flare burning in the lobby. I think these are our guys," she whispered.

Michael swore inwardly. She was a wildcard, and she should have let him know she was moving down. "Stand by," he whispered back, letting his irritation show.

 

[TheGreyWarden]

Javier Cranford had been looking the stores in the Lexington Passage for a while and found some bottled waters and a Spinach & Feta Breakfast Wrap from the Starbucks near the exit to Lexington Avenue. He was sitting on top the tables at the Starbucks as he was eating the wrap while looking to his backpack, set beside him on the table. Using one hand to search the backpack, he was looking from something as his phone buzzed out of control once more. With the headset still on him, he answered the call as he finished with the wrap.

"Newcastle." the familiar voice spoke up with the Spanish accent clear as day. Newcastle smiled at the voice and said, "Burroughs, how is it going? Are you in New York City with your squad?"

He waited for a response of some kind as he got off of the table and began to look around Starbucks more carefully, leaving his backpack on the table. He finally got one as Burroughs spoke back, "I have just exited out of JFK Airport with my squad and we are planning to move to the Resorts World Casino. Oh God, that sounds like a shitty casino that was just lucky enough to be near the airport." The casino had been already, despite everything being electronic from the slots to the card games and the food wasn't the best. Javier had been there once before he left from the military, so it brought back some memories of the good old days.

He shook his head as he said back to Burroughs in an sarcastic manner, "The casino is alright. Just don't try the food."

"Noted." Burroughs said as he was silent for another minute and came back, "Sorry about that. Just trying to get out of the Expressway. A whole lot of cars and useful things as well. People were really trying to get out of the city before they were sick as well." He signed as the sound of something hitting the ground and kept going with the conversation, "Thankfully, none else has been here besides us. And this suitcase has... just clothes. Of course. Just like every other suitcase around here probably has inside. Anyway, have you heard about the rumor going around?"

Newcastle was off by the word rumor as he confusedly said as kept looking around, "What rumor?" Burroughs knew somehow that Newcastle didn't know about the rumor and that he had to tell it to him, "Of course you don't know. Anyway, the rumor is that HQ is planning to restore the power and water in New York City with the help of the US Army." Newcastle didn't believe it at first as HQ told them on the fourth day of the outbreak that there wasn't any possibly that power and water could be restored without there being unrest. He just laughed at the rumor as he said, "Don't tell me that you believe in those kinds of rumors. HQ told us that it was impossible to restore them. Especially now." He crouched down to look at the shelves of the counters from any hidden foods or bottled drinks.

Burroughs started to be defensive as he said to him, "Come on now, I didn't just get it from a friend of a friend. I got it from Emily." Newcastle stopped what he was doing and stool back up as he couldn't believe that Burroughs got the rumor from Emily and said to him in a unbelievable tone, "Emily? Bullshit. How the fuck did you even contact her?" "I found a way. Plus, she works along with HQ and I still remember her voice. So, the rumor must be true." Burroughs said as he was really such that the rumor was real and went silent again.

Newcastle went back into search mode and found a couple more wraps and bottled waters. With the wraps, he put them into bags and put them in his backpack along with the bottles. Then, he grabbed his backpack from the table and exited out of the Starbucks and walking towards Tumi as the rolling grilles were blocking the entrance. He saw the lock, keeping the grilles in place, on the ground as he crouched down to check the lock. The lock could break easier with a heavy object, like his pistol. When he reached for his pistol and aimed at the lock, Burroughs came back and Newcastle said to him, "Took you longer."

"I was doing something." Burroughs said quickly as he could be heard walking faster on the Expressway most likely. Newcastle begun to hit the lock with the butt of the pistol; however, it was taking forever to break it. He hit it as hard as he could until Burroughs asked him, "What the hell are you trying to do now?" The sound of the pistol, hitting the lock must of been loud enough for Burroughs to hear and he stopped to tell him what he was doing, "Trying to break this here lock that is preventing me from entering one of the stores at the Grand Central Station."

Burroughs was silent for a moment until he asked, "Did you try to shoot the lock first?" There was a moment of silence from the other side as Newcastle grabbed the pistol, aimed at the lock, and fired it twice. The lock didn't survive the shots as Newcastle pulled the lock and threw it away as he said to Burroughs in a laughing manner, "I was going to do that sooner or later." Burroughs sighed at the words 'sooner or later' and said to him, "Well, what would you do without me?"

Newcastle knew the answer right away and said, "I'd would most likely been sent to LA rather than NYC. You know how much I hate LA, even known it's similar to NYC." Burroughs laughed and said to Newcastle, "Of course, I knew you'd still be grateful of me."

"Even known I want to still talk, I have to get going. My squad is still behind schedule, it's almost three o' clock." Burroughs said to Newcastle, "We will talk again tonight, when the power comes back on. Good luck." Newcastle grinned and said in a kind manner, "Good luck to you too."

The call soon ended and Javier put his pistol back into his holster as he tried to lift the grilles with all of his strength. He got it up as high as he could before entering the store as he kicked the bullets away from the shop, so no-one else would think to check it. While still holding onto the grilles, he got inside the darkened store and turned half way as he tried to put down the grilles without making too much sound. And when it was low enough, he quickly let go of the grilles before his hands could of got crushed.

Inside the darken store alone, Javier searched from his flare as he started it up and saw that the store haven't been touched in the five days since the outbreak started. Everything was still in place from the bags to the jackets, and he saw the back room of the shop as he set one flare down and grabbed from another one. The flare was still blighting up the room as he started up the other flare and threw it towards the backroom. No-one was still in the store for such. However, as soon as he got to the backroom, he saw a mini fridge and quickly ran towards it. Then, he opened up and saw some apples, two bottled waters, a salad with ranch on it, and on top of the fridge, there were some boxes from cup noddles.

Javier had just hit the jackpot.

Ghost was done looking around the restaurants at the balcony level as he didn't found much supplies. After all, they were all fine restaurants and they were picked empty as the gates didn't survive the raid. Despite the lack of food, he did find some wine and put it inside his backpack from drinking later on. He was walking down the stairs, when he saw a man and a woman near the clock. He immediately reached from his Springfield 1911 and aimed at them as he shouted at them, "FREEZE! DON'T MOVE OR YOU WILL GET SHOT!"

As soon as he got their attention, he walked down the steps and stopped as he said to them in a serious manner, "Who are you guy? Sad thieves or just scums?"

 

[CalibansEnthusiast]

"Chloe," Michael whispered hoarsely to his sister as they met at the rally point. He was on the verge of reperimanding her, but this was neither the time nor the place. "What did you see?"

"Snow, animals," she replied. "Can cats and dogs carry the virus? I really don't want to have to hurt one and-"

"Freeze!"

They did nothing of the sort. Spreading and aiming their weapons at the source of the noise, Michael crouched by the clock, bringing the holographic sight up. The man behind the dot was dressed similar to them, but he had to make sure. Once the code phrase was uttered, Michael swore and relaxed. "Worse," he replied as Chloe sang out.

"Just lawyers" she finished as she stepped from cover. "There's supposed to be two of you." She observed, looking for the second.

 

[TheGreyWarden]

"Worse," he replied as the woman sang out. "Just lawyers." she finished as she stepped from cover. "There's supposed to be two of you." She observed, looking for Newcastle.

Ghost, who lowered his weapon as soon as the code was uttered by the man, started to walk slowly towards as he was studying them. He didn't know what to think of them just yet. "The second guy is looking for supplies at Lexington Passage." Ghost said as he put his pistol in the holster and walked pass them as he said in a demanding way, "Listen, just stay close and don't leave me for any reason what so ever. Got it?"

He was already halfway to the passage, when he decided to call Newcastle as he got his bluetooth headset on and called Newcastle.

As soon as he was done packing the addition food into his backpack, he left the back room and headed towards the store front. Then, his phone buzzed and Javier answered as soon as he saw the number. "Ghost." he greeted out as he walked towards the grilles to lift it up again. Ghost stopped at the start of the passage and began to ask the question, "Where are you, sir?"

"I am just getting out of this store called, Tumi." Javier informed Ghost of his current location as he started to lift up the grilles again, "You should see the grilles, going up. That's where I am." Ghost began to run towards Tumi and soon saw Newcastle, lifting the grilles by his self. He immediately helped Newcastle with the grilles as they worked together to bring down the grilles, when Newcastle got to the other side. They soon dropped the grilles to make a loud booming sound as it crashed down towards the ground. Newcastle breathed heavily from the lifting as he said to Ghost, "Thanks from the help."

Ghost nodded his head and informed Newcastle of the new arrivals, the man and the woman. Javier looked at them with interested and asked Ghost, "Did they say the code right?" Ghost nodded again and pointed out, "They dressed similar to us. It must be them, then."

Javier walked passed Ghost and went from the other two to see his self. He first saw the blonde hair of the woman, since it was noticeable in the dark station. The outfits were the same as the guy's from the black rubber-soled combat boots to the black and white urban camoflauge-patterned shirt. After checking them out, Javier extended out his hand and said to them, "Hello, I am Javier. But, you can call me Newcastle. I am your leader."

 

[CalibansEnthusiast]

The man relaxed and lowered his gun, Michael and Chloe doing the same and stepping into the open. "We didn't just come from the chicken farm, we got it," Michael assured the man in as nonoffensive way as possible. Chloe gave him a look, but he just shrugged.

They followed the operator warily, breaking into a jog as their impromoto leader did the same. Two sets of eyes sweeping the area for threats. They reached the line of stores, along with another struggling to open a grille in front of one. With unspoken orders, Michael went to one side and helped the two lift, while Chloe covered their backs. Once the other team member was inside, she looked to them and observed, "if we didn't say it right we wouldn't be here," with a huff.

Michael looked to her and shot a warning glare. She had always been the fiesty one. He accepted their leader, Newcastle's hand and shook it quickly while identifying himself. "Michael Foulke, callsign Angel," he said, before backing away. He then went to Ghost and repeated the same gesture.

Chloe replaced him, "Chloe Foulke, Princess," she smiled lightly before going to Ghost. When the introductions were finished, Michael asked. "What we pick up is yours as well. I've got some nine mil hollowpoints, if you boys want them," he offered, withdrawing the baggie.

Chloe flicked her eyes between them, trying to read and decide what type of men they were. Like them, she knew that. But how experianced were they? How did they act? Many questions, little time to answer them.

 

[TheGreyWarden]

As soon as Javier looked at the 'nine mil hollowpoints' offered by Michael Foulke, he declined them and said to him, "Better save them for later. They will be useful." He looked at both of them and pointed out, "You guys have the same last names. Twins?"

Ghost had walked passed them as soon as he saw something odd near the Lexington Passage, where he was moments ago. "Hello?" he muttered quietly as he advanced forward towards the exit to Lexington Avenue. The finger was on the trigger of his 1911 as he walked slowly towards the exit before he heard footsteps and talking. "Things might be looking bad, but." the woman's words were cut off as soon as she saw Ghost from afar. "Oh, God. It's one of those agents!" she started as she quickly reached for her gun and tried to say something towards her ground. However, Ghost fired a single shot from his pistol and hit her chest.

She cried out in pain as she quickly dropped to the ground and tried to reach her hand outside. After the shot, Javier turned around and saw Ghost along with five other people running towards Lexington Passage. All of them were male and Ghost had rushed towards the nearby curved wall, shouting out loud for help. Expect from two guys, who ran towards the markets, hoping to flank the enemy.

Newcastle grabbed his MP5 and he demanded, "Princess and Angel. Go to Grand Central Market immediately before we get flanked." He ran toward Ghost to help out as he fired his MP5 towards the enemy, hitting one of them in the chest a couple times before dropping to the ground. The remaining two guys at the passage made a break from the Starbucks. Not before Ghost tried to fire at them, as they fired back with their weapons before setting up at the cafe shop. As one of the guys picked up his phone and tried to call for backup.

With the enemy nearby, the guy pled for five more guys as backup and were getting them in a few moments as they were nearby the Passage. Suddenly, it got silent. Thinking that Angel and Princess took down the other two, Ghost and Newcastle began to walk forward quietly. Passing by shops as they tried to get to Starbucks before the enemy fires back. But, that's what one of the guys did as he popped outside with his weapon and started to fire at them. And they rushed towards Tia's Place.

Ghost fired at the glass before crashing into them and falling to the ground along with Newcastle, who landed on top of Ghost. Newcastle blushed as he realized that he was on top of Ghost before he got off and offered help to Ghost. "You okay?" he said worried about Ghost. And he responded with a 'yep' as he dusted off the glass from his pants. Now, they were trying to figure a way out of the place until the backup arrived as they heard one of the men mocking them, "Looks like they are the ones in hiding now!"

Both Ghost and Newcastle were relying on Princess and Angel to save them.

 

[CalibansEnthusiast]

"We don't use nine, so they're yours," he said as a gunshot boomed. A .45, they both knew from the echo. Both turned towards the source of the sound, weapons up before receiving their first orders. Remove the threat of a flank, flank the enemy themselves. His legs bolted towards the market as Chloe followed.

She was worried that the two fireteams would get caught in one another's crossfire. They hadn't set up any sort of plan or any sort of way to communicate between the others. All of that dissappeared as a burst rang out from her brother's Kriss.

Two human shaped figures had appeared, and he brought the subgun up for a quick shot before strafing towards a wall and cover. He knew at least one, maybe two rounds had struck the chest of his target. Chloe quickly followed up with an unsuppressed blast of rifle fire towards the pair, strafing in the opposite direction.

Their adversaries fire back wildly, one pistol snapping while a Mac machine pistol stuttered. But they were quickly caught in a crossfire of suppression bursts from Chloe's M4 and percision quiet shots from Michael's Kriss. Both fell, but not before the Division operator brandishing the SMG took a crease to his cheek. Without wiping the blood, he kicked away the weapons of the fallen and moved to flank the sounds of gunfire.

Chloe paused, looking at the corpses and the blood seeping from their wounds onto the tile. There it was, she had killed. They would have killed her, killed Michael, killed Newcastle and Ghost. She wanted to vomit out of the insult of it all. But she couldn't. She still had a job to do. The image would return, in quiet, lonely moments. She would wonder who she had killed, who she had orphaned and windowed.

Before Michael could check to make sure hid sister had returned to his back, she was moving ahead of him. They attained a firing position above the gunners that had the rest of the team pinned, and their ears caught the tail end of an insult. As Michael picked his way closer, Chloe steadied the M4 and let out a shout, "hide from this!" Before gunfire from her rifle peppered the space occupied by Newcastle and Ghost's attackers. Glass broke and bullets sparked and whined, forcing the rest to withdraw.

Right into the holigraphic sight of Michael, who caught two before the last one limped away. "Clear," Michael called, returning to the team. Chloe joined them shortly thereafter. "Gunfire probably attracted a lot of attention. What's our next waypoint, Boss?" He asked Newcastle.

 

[TheGreyWarden]

Both Ghost and Newcastle were thankful for the assistance with the new threat as soon saw both Princess and Angel. The gunfight caused a lot of noise and attention, which would usually be follow by footsteps and then shouting. However, the winter storm had begun as snow slowly fell towards the grounds of New York City and no-one was going to stay outdoors for that.

It took them a while before they noticed the winter storm, since they had been underground for most of the day. Newcastle walked outside and looked around to the snow covered ground and the nothing else. The remaining people were most likely inside, trying to get warm and not get sick during these difficult times.

"Gunfire probably attracted a lot of attention. What's our next waypoint, Boss?" Michael asked Newcastle while he and Chloe was walking towards them. "We can't get anywhere since it's going to be snowing pretty hard. We have to stay at Grand Central until the storm moves on." Newcastle then walked towards Tumi again and quickly informed the rest of the group, "We will have to use this store as our 'mini base' for now. I want us to make use of this opportunity to look for supplies once more. After all, we will rest and move out at 07:00 tomorrow to the Public Library near here. I will explain once we regroup."

"Got it?" he asked to the others. Ghost nodded and started to walk the other direction until he heard from Newcastle once more. "I almost forgot. Michael, go with Ghost." Newcastle told the others before he said that he would take Chloe. Ghost was going to objected the order, but decided to keep it in his mouth as he mumbled for Michael to follow him.

They were going downstairs to check out the lower level, while Chloe and Newcastle were going to check out the market and passages near them. As soon as they left, Newcastle walked towards the market section of the terminal and asked Chloe a question.

"What did you do before the outbreak?"