Welcome readers to my very first AU. This is set in the story for the video game, Tom Clancy's The Division. So, if you're a gamer and a anime dork like me, then this should be a story cut for you.
When the shit hit the fan, it hit fast. And hard.
Really, really hard.
The Dollar Flu had broken out on Black Friday according to reports. It was a pandemic of small pox that had been weaponized. That was a week ago. And now, Natsu, a young man who had been out looking at the renovation costs of his night club, was locked up in his apartment, well stocked and ready for anything. He had let his neighbor, a friendly teen girl with blue hair named Wendy, into his apartment as everything started going down the drain.
Five days ago, people started freaking out and the hospitals were immediately full. Four days ago quarantine kicked in and areas were locked down. Supplies immediately were being rationed. Traffic was halted. Three days ago, the stock market fell apart. Two days ago, the power went out, taking the water with it. Yesterday, dear lord, the worst happened.
The government itself collapsed. Everyone saw everyone as a threat to survival. That's when the rioters broke out. They were arming themselves little by little and were raiding stores, getting supplies. Gun shots go off every hour as people hunt each other down if they aren't already dead. The flu killed insanely fast, and if you didn't have a mask in contaminated areas, you were dead.
Rioters looted everything. Natsu waited. Wendy was forced to wait as well. Worst part about it was that her mom was dead. Natsu only knew her name was Grandine, or as Wendy would called her occasionally, Grandeeny. Wendy had left a note in her apartment saying that Natsu was willing to shelter them. It had been a week since then. If the flu didn't kill Grandine, then worse, the savages on the street did.
"...Hey, Wendy, listen, uh," Natsu looked at the petite teenager sitting on his couch, "I'm sorry. She was a nice woman."
"Yeah." Wendy fiddled with her fingers before meeting his eyes. "She was." Her eyes began to swell with tears. "I love her." A tear fell. Then another. "I'm going to really miss her, Natsu."
Natsu stepped forward and opened his arms, to which Wendy shakily accepted the invitation. "Shhhh, let it out. It's alright, you'll do fine. She'd make you keep going, so I gotta make sure you keep moving."
Honestly, Natsu had no idea what the hell to do. He had no idea how to comfort the girl.
Wendy didn't respond, she only soaked the front of Natsu's shirt with her tears as they fell endlessly.
The radio crackled, as it switched from station to station, scanning for any signal. Suddenly, something changed. "-and women of New York City. The Joint Task Force has entered the Manhattan borough of New York City. Remain calm, if you are in dire need of resources, please visit the JTF Head Quarters at Madison Square Garden."
"Wendy, the army is in town," Natsu whispered. "We'll be fine kiddo."
Then it happened.
It wasn't ever supposed to happen.
Natsu heard a beep from his watch.
They said if it did happen, it meant that the country was really in some deep shit.
Natsu raised his arm, looking down at his watch.
It had lighten up, an orange circle glowing from it.
"Oh fuck."
Wendy looked up and backed away, looking at Natsu's raised wrist. "What's wrong?"
Natsu looked at Wendy, backing away. "Uh... stay here, Wendy."
"What?" Wendy could hear her panic rising. "What's wrong?"
"Just stay right there. Don't move!" Natsu darted into his office, reaching under his desk to a locked cupboard. Inside was a safe, which he quickly unlocked. Reaching in he pulled out a backpack, a holstered Beretta 92F, and a radio.
He quickly wired the radio through his shirt and into his ear. Pulling on his backpack and strapping his gun to his thigh, he called in. "This is Natsu, who's there?"
"Gray, callin' in."
"Erza reporting."
"Lucy, reading you loud and clear."
Natsu took a deep breath. At least there were more nearby. "I was hoping this wouldn't have to happen." He placed his computerized contact lens on his eyes, blinking them into place. Looking around, he activated the digital map of the city, looking for Madison Square Garden.
"No shit." The voice named Gray responded. "I was hoping this would blow over quickly."
"Well agents, you have your authorized Directive. You have absolute authority to do what is necessary to keep society from collapsing entirely. This is what the presidential Directive fifty-one is about," Natsu quoted back the trainers dialogue. "I'll meet you all at the JTF base in Madison Square Garden."
"Copy that."
"You got it."
"Loud and clear."
"Natsu?" Wendy's voice cut in from behind. "Wha-what are you doing?" She looked at the gun, now strapped to his thigh. "...Don't tell me, you're joining those rioters!"
"What? No, no, Wendy, no." Natsu stepped towards her, which caused her to jump back. Stopping in his place, he took a breath. "I'm part of an emergency presidential Directive. If the country goes to shit, like it has, there is a group of people that are responsible to make sure it gets back up. I'm part of it, Wendy. I have to start my real job now."
"...What?" Wendy couldn't believe it. This was all too much, Grandeeny was dead, Natsu was now rioting, people were dying...
Natsu reached into his desk drawer, pulling out a small revolver before putting it on the desktop. "Listen, Wendy. I got to leave now, only for a while. But, if there is trouble before I get back," he tapped the revolver, "point and squeeze with your whole hand." He walked past her to the front door, ignoring the shock still clearly all over the young girls face. "...I hope to God you don't have to use that thing."
He opened the unlocked the door, walked out, turned around and locked the knob and the deadbolt. He shrugged on his winter jacket, tossing his long patterned scarf around his neck. He pulled on his gloves and tucked his salmon hair and the tips of his ears into his toque.
Walking briskly down the flight of stairs, Natsu moved towards the exit. His first priority was getting to his stash, where his real weapons were located. The Beretta would help him in a jam, but it wasn't enough. He'd need some firepower.
Stepping outside, Natsu breathed in the chilly winter air. Popping his map back up, he scanned the city borough, looking for his marked cache. He found it three blocks away, hidden under a pedestrian overpass. Marking it on his map, he began his jog.
Reaching it without a problem, he crouched down and opened the large gun case that had been hidden inside of a sign. Reaching in he pulled out two guns. A secondary weapon, a small MP-7 that held twenty-five rounds, and a ACR assault rifle that held thirty. He quickly shoved the spare ammunition into his pack and extra external ammo pockets. Standing he slung the MP-7 with his pack, holding his ACR. Bringing his map back up, he found Madison Square Garden, marked it and turned to begin his trek.
"Fuckin' told you man. The stores are empty!" A voice cut through Natsu's concentration. "I'm pretty sure the others have already cleaned through this."
"Shut up," another cut off the other. "We need more stuff, so if you won't help us get through it, I'll put a round between your eyes."
"Tsssh, yeah, right. Whatever."
Natsu creeped up to the corner of the building and peaked around the corner, his gun up. There were two men, one holding a metal bat, the other held a simple 9mm pistol. They sure looked like the rioters. More than likely, they were.
"Don't move." Natsu ordered, poking around enough to ensure that both his body had enough cover, yet he could clearly get a shot of at both of them.
Both men looked at Natsu, the pistol instinctively coming up as well as the bat. Natsu held his fire, putting faith in that they wouldn't shoot blindly.
He was wrong. But lucky. The man with the pistol shot blindly, the bullet landing two feet away from Natsu. Aiming quickly, Natsu shot the man three times in the chest, just as the man with the bat charged. The ACR was smacked down and out of his hands, clattering on the ground.
Natsu brought his arms up in a block as the bat came back across and crashed right into the flesh of his forearms. Redirecting some of the force, Natsu pushed the bat down and away from himself and slammed his elbow into the chest of the attacker. As he staggered back, Natsu quickly followed with a kick to the chest, laying him out on his back. Natsu took the chance to quick draw his Beretta from his holster. "Don't do it."
This time, the guy stopped. "Shit, man. What the hell, where did you get that gear from?" The furious eyes narrowed at him. "You military or something?"
"Or something."
"...Ha, yea right. You with those JTF bitches?" He scoffed. "Yea right, they got little pea shooters. They can hardly fight for themselves, let alone others. Task Force my ass."
"At least they are trying to save people."
"It's hell out here if you haven't noticed; its every man for himself."
Natsu narrowed his eyes at him. "You really believe that?" he asked. "You won't change your mind?"
The response was a hollow laugh. "You'd be stupid not to! Millions are dead! The virus is still killin'!" The bat rose from the ground. "You assholes are not-"
Natsu had fired. He holstered his sidearm, went over to where his rifle had fallen. Picking it up and brushing it off, he popped out the magazine and reloaded the three missing rounds. Sliding it back into place, he pulled back the slide and chambered a bullet.
It was time he met up with the other agents.
After all, they were the Division. They would stand between the danger and the world. They would make sure society didn't vanish, by any means necessary.
Natsu tapped into his radio. "Does anyone have the JTF frequency? I need to get in contact with them."
"None of us do, sorry." Gray. "I already asked them about it."
"I'll find it, you guys keep heading to the Garden."
"Copy that."
Natsu changed his frequency then adjusted it to an open frequency. "This is Division agent Dragneel looking for a JTF frequency, anyone copy?" No response. He tried again a few minutes later. "Division agent Dragneel looking for a JTF frequency, is anyone there?"
"We're reading you Dragneel. How can we help?"
Natsu took a breath, preparing to give orders. "I've got a squad that will converge on the Garden. Is there anything to report on the surrounding area?"
"Negative, the area is relatively clear. Rioters do get nice and cozy nearby, but they don't step onto the block itself."
"Very good." Natsu quickly changed frequency to alert the others. Switching back, he said; "We're gonna give you people a hand in getting this shit-hole of a city fixed."
Laughter came through the other end as a new voice appeared. "Good to hear, Natsu."
"Are you the CO?"
"Hell no, she's out on the field, she won't respond. Odds are she's somewhere the radio traffic just doesn't man up." Another chuckle, some concern laced in it. "She's a real man. I'm her brother."
Huh, interesting. Not very often were siblings in the same unit. "We'll be coming in. If there's trouble, just let me know."
"Roger that Agent. Be a man, take care."
Natsu was confused at hearing the word 'man' being used so often in such a variety of ways. He shrugged it off and turned on his team radio. "I'll be observing both channels until we get to the Garden. They're ready and waiting for us. Watch out for Rioters nearby, apparently they feel cozy nearby the HQ."
"Hey." Gray's voice cut through. "Anyone have a clue what happened to the first wave?"
That's right. There was more than one wave of Division agents. The first were dispatched the second the government collapsed. Natsu and these others were part of the second wave. "I have no clue."
"Think that they're-"
"But, there's only two options. One is they're all dead. Or most of them at least." He took a breath. "Or there's the other, which is way worse-"
Erza cut through. "They've gone rogue."
Natsu could basically hear the grimace through the radio. "Right."
"But that's stretching it, right?. We've been training for this our whole lives." Lucy's voice now appeared. "No agent would be so...so...rash enough to abandon their duty. Right?"
"Dont' be stupid." Gray's voice was hardened. "The government is gone. Treason doesn't exist anymore here; not in this land."
"Enough. Did you guys get your caches?" Erza changed the subject. They haven't even met. They had no room for any separation.
"Locked and loaded." Natsu responded.
"I've got them." Lucy.
"Armed." Gray.
"Then I'll meet you at the Garden. Out."
"Aye-aye."
"Loud and clear."
"Copy."
Natsu could now see the Garden a few blocks away. Taking a breath, he started his final jog. He dodged around the abandoned garbage and vehicles, cautious and watching for any dangers. With his ACR in hand and ready to fire, he continued his jog. Changing over to the JTF frequency he alerted them. "I'm approaching the Garden, tell your men to stand down."
"Gotcha."
Approaching the front of the Garden, Natsu forced himself to drop his barrel, not wanting to agitate.
"Agent Dragneel? You're too exposed sir." A soldier waved him over, wearing a green vest with JTF in big bold letters.
"One second." He switched channels again. "When you get here, approach barrels down, I'll let them know to pass you through." He got the acknowledges from the team. "When you boys see a man and a two ladies, separate or together, armed with weapons, guide them in." Natsu ordered. "They are more agents, so don't spook them."
"Yes, sir!"
Walking in through the decontamination zone where he was gently misted with harmless virus killers, he eventually arrived inside the Garden and walked up the escalators, past numerous JTF soldiers. They all gave him wary glances. Understandable. The first wave must've had lots of rogue agents. Hell, a bunch of them probably abandoned their gear entirely. The fact that the second wave had to be activated, that was a troubling sign.
"Where's the second-in-command?" Natsu asked a nearby soldier at the top of the escalator.
"In the security room, first door on the right." The man answered, pointing a finger down the hall.
Nodding his thanks, Natsu walked briskly straight into the command central of the JTF headquarters. It had five members sat down, three of which were managing short wave radios, obviously in contact with both the troops inside the Garden and patrols. One of them was furiously scrambling, adjusting frequencies and shouting the same call sign. "Sigma Squad, this is Alpha Base, do you respond?"
The fourth person was a surprise. A woman with long red hair, dressed pretty casual, yet fitted for the winter weather. It was all very smooth clothing, the jacket was a little longer than most, but was thick straight material. The orange from her watch and backpack said that she was a Division agent. "What's your name, SHD agent?" Natsu asked, tightening his grip on his gun.
"Hello, Agent Dragneel." The red haired woman looked back. "I am Erza, one of the three that responded to you."
"Dragneel is here? He better be a helluva man." The fifth and final person in the room, was a massive person. No, massive is an understatement. He was monolithic. Huge. "Well, I'll be damned, he's sure packing more impressive heat than we are!" Standing at at least six-foot-ten and with shoulders that were as wide as an oak tree, he walked up to Natsu. "Welcome to the hell hole. I'm Elfman, second-in-command."
"Natsu. Before I begin, I'd like your help. See, I was helping my neighbor, a teen girl, around fifteen, and when I got activated, she thought I was going to riot. She didn't understand." Natsu took a breath. "So, if you could, send two or three men out to get her. She's a sharp kid, I'm sure you can find something for her to work on."
Elfman scratched his head. "It's tricky. She's what, six blocks away? Rioters are everywhere, they love poking at us." He dragged his hand over his face. "Doesn't she have a mother?"
"She did. Her mother, Grandeeny, we think is dead."
"Grandeeny?" Elfman looked at him. "She was a first wave Agent. She helped us get to this point." He waved a hand around. "Granted it's not much, but she could still fight better than all of us. She went into the Dark Zone about four days ago. She's very likely dead. But, we owe her for being such a man, so we'll return the favour and be men ourselves by getting her daughter to safety."
Natsu couldn't believe his ears. Some mid-forties lady was a Division Agent? How was that possible? Was the Division really that vast? It didn't make sense. "Thanks, really appreciate it."
Elfman nodded. "Warren, get three people out to pick up a little lady, Grandine's kid. We owe her that much."
"Got it!"
Natsu faced Elfman again. "So, with that dealt with, what can I do to help?"
Elfman's face crunched. "Actually, we are still very unprepared. We have little security, and our chief of security took a mission two days ago, haven't heard from him since. The tech room upstairs," he jammed a thumb behind him, "that is a mess, we need proper comms among other things, and the techie went to reboot the boroughs electrical generators to get them back online. He went dark yesterday." He took a deep sigh, "As for our medical wing, we have no staff. None. My sister, the boss around here, she took it upon herself to sort out a hostage situation a block away where they have a doctor and her staff."
"When did she go dark?"
Elfman narrowed her eyes. "She hasn't. Worse, she's been captured by Rikers. Criminals that have broken out when all the power went down."
"But you still have comms with her?"
"We lost them ten minutes ago."
Natsu nodded. "Then, I'll start with them. Give me the location."
Elfman told Natsu the location, which he immediately set on his map. His guiding system already pointing him in the right direction, Natsu turned to leave. "Erza, let's get going."
"Ready." The immediate response came.
"Not leaving without me are you?" A man with a thick black hair walked in. He wore a thick furry winter hat with some silver ski goggles. He had an unusual weapon in hand, a M6 short barreled rifle, good for mid-range combat, yet extremely compact. On his back, a distance optimized M1 Carbine. Unzipping his jacket, he looked at Natsu. "We got work?"
"Yeah, Gray, we got a job." Natsu brushed passed the man. "Did you see Lucy on your way in?"
"Yea, she got all a little wound up at some JTF guy who asked her to put her weapon down inside the Garden. She still had it drawn and ready to fire-"
"Don't touch my gun!"
"Is that her?" Natsu asked.
"You got it." Gray tongue rolled out.
Sighing, Laxus walked down the escalator to where a brunette was furiously battling at a JTF officer who had snuck up behind her and disarmed her of her AR-15.
"As part of Directive 51, I order you ,soldier, to return my weapon!" Her hand hovered over her Glock on her hip.
"And as part of Directive 51, I order you, Agent Heartfilia, to stand down." Erza's stern authoritative voice cut in. "This is a JTF hospital for pity sake. No one is going to hurt you."
She whipped around at Natsu and looked him up and down. "Agent Dragneel, I assume." Looking behind him, at Gray and Erza. "I'm assuming your the other two from the call."
"Erza." The red-hared woman gave a slight nod.
"That's me." Gray gave a slight wave with the flick of a wrist.
She narrowed her eyes at him, not noticing Natsu walk over to the JTF soldier who currently held her AR-15. "Here," Natsu held out the gun. "We have a job, we need to recover the JTF's CO of this base."
"Oh she's not JTF." Elfman's voice cut through. "She's a Division Agent like you. She had been hiding here until this morning, acting like I needed to protect her. When you all got activated, the charade fell." His eyes hardened a little. "She out manned me very quick, establishing herself as the commander through your Directive 51. Was something to see, your normally timid sister suddenly being passively-aggressively authoritative."
"Huh. Well, then it's embarrassing that she got caught." Natsu huffed. "We're going to get her now. Send us her teams vital status frequencies, so we can mark them as friendlies."
"She's more of a man than you!" Elfman shouted back at him.
Natsu lead the group out of the Garden, onto the open streets again. "Right, lets go get another Agent, shall we?"
He led the team, gun raised, at a fast walk through the street. The location was a block away, well hidden in an office building. Natsu raised his glove and hit a button on his thumb, activating his scanner. Three men were positioned outside the building, with fifteen more inside. But, there was only one friendly signal, a Division signal; Elfman's sister. "Elfman, did you send us the JTF frequencies? We only see your sister."
"I sent them. If you don't see them, then they might be dead."
"I see." Natsu went quiet again before turning to Gray. "You got thermal?"
His black flopped out as he gave a small smile. "You bet." He slung his M1 carbine off his shoulder and tapped it. "Hollow point rounds too, ready to go."
"Perfect. Get the third floor of the building parallel with the target. Alert me when you get there." Erza said, stepping in.
"You got it." Gray scampered off, keeping his footsteps quiet.
"You two," Erza shifted to Natsu and Lucy. "We are going to surround those three at the front. On my mark. Move." They dispersed and moved like ghosts between the abandoned cars as they slowly and quietly made their way to trap their targets in a kill zone.
"I'm in position." Gray cracked through the radio. "I've got sight on the bastards holding our lady. I can take out two of them and she'll undoubtedly get to cover."
"Right, when you do that, make sure you keep her covered till we get to her."
"Copy."
"All agents, move on my mark. 3...2...1...mark." Natsu, Erza and Lucy stood up simultaneously, dropping their sights on their targets. Fewer than ten bullets were fired, and three were down, not including the few that Gray just took out. "Moving in, let's go."
The ground floor had no targets, but the second had four as well. One was racing down the stairwell, which Natsu had placed himself just outside of. He waited for the barrel to come into view before reaching underneath the arms and around the neck of the Riker, pressing the barrel of his own Beretta to the other's head. He squeezed a round and dropped the body with a thud, quickly lining up the sights aiming into the stairwell. "Moving up." At the top of the second floor, another body fell as his head lined up with Natsu's aim. "Erza, take point."
"No problem." The red haired woman nodded briskly before dashing in quickly. Less than five seconds later, two more bodies had hit the floor.
"Next floor, let's go. Gray, how's she doing?" Natsu questioned as he started up the next flight to the target floor. "We'll be stepping in soon."
"She's holdin' up fine. It seems she got her hands on a gun herself." Gray let out a low whistle. "You gotta see her skills to believe it. I swear, she's getting one with every bullet."
Natsu entered the third floor with his ACR at his shoulder, his Beretta now holstered. He saw the first Riker and lined up, taking the shot. Now that their presence on the floor had been announced, he moved to his first cover. "Gray, how many are left?"
"Three."
"Got them, Lucy?"
The blond tossed a sassy grin his way. "Duh, just watch. Stay here." She scrambled to her next cover, AR-15 in hand. During her move, she fired, which was followed with a thud. She then reached into her pack and withdrew a smoke grenade, tossing it down the cubicles. Giving it three seconds for the smoke to spread out, she pinged her radar, finding the outlines of her targets before dashing into the smoke.
Reaching the first target she aimed at his core, pulling the trigger. As he collapsed, the other spun, shooting wildly. She rolled up to him, quickly punching his knee, causing him to fall as well. Quickly she stood, firing two rounds into both heads. "All clear."
Natsu and Erza stood, pleased with the ease of the operation. "Good. Now," Natsu stood outside an open corner office, "Ms...uh shit, what's Elfman's last name again?" he asked Freed.
"It's Strauss, sir."
"Right, Ms. Strauss, your brother asked us to come get you. We're also Division-" Quickly he was staring down the barrel of an older M1911. His eyes followed the arm up to a face, a stunning face, with long white hair and fiercely blue eyes. "Uh, we're also Division agents?"
"..." Her eyes stared at him. "Okay." The gun fell.
Wait, what? Natsu stared at her. She just held a gun to his face, that's all she's going to do? "What, that's it? You believe us like that?"
"It's a little early for second wavers to be going rogue, so I think you guys are good," she said as she loaded back up her gear that had been taken. "Besides, my brother's base is only a block away; its not that hard to believe. The doctor and her staff are over here." She walked out of the office to the other side of the floor.
She opened a storage room, where a woman stood, looking at a body of what had to be a nurse. Another nurse stood nearby.
"Just a little too late," the doctor said. "Terribly unfortunate. Let's go already."
Natsu looked at the doctor and back to Elfman's sister, who said; "This way, Porlyusica."
"What's your name by the way?" Natsu asked.
She turned back and looked at him before giving a sizable grin. "My name's Mirajane. Most call me Mira, and I'm a second wave Division agent, like you guys."
A.N. Welcome to my first actual AU, set in the idea behind the idea of the Tom Clancy's The Division game. As a avid gamer, I love the setting for the story and I thoroughly enjoyed both Betas for the game. I've thoroughly enjoyed the full game as well. If you didn't fully read the start or understand it, it's modern world, except for a large difference. The entire country is being attacked with a weaponized version of small-pox, one of the most deadly plagues in all of history.
I really hope you enjoy as I pursue this story, adding in fairy tail characters everywhere. Give suggestions for what you'd be interested in, action scene wise to even plot wise.
If you're more curious for just getting to know me and my anime fandoms, check out my tumblr, nightlockedx3. I post all my stories and the occasional drawing, which dwarf in comparison to my stories but they're still a hobby.
Welcome to Fairies Divided!
~NightLocker