My name is Erin Greene. I'm an agent of the Strategic Homeland Division. Before the Green Poison spread all over the world, I was the head of a design team for a US defense contractor. I designed all sorts of things, from weapons to tech to medical. That's probably why they chose me for the SHD. I had worked with the equipment that their agents would be using. I had a better understanding of all our projects than most people who had access to it.
I had just finalized my divorce when a pair spooks, men in black suits who work for the government, asked me to come with them. When we got to the destination, I figured we were somewhere on the edge of city limits. The windows were blacked out from the inside so I couldn't see where we were going. They put me in a room and a few minutes later another spook came in. This one was more talkative.
He started by saying that it was nice to finally meet me, and then went over every little detail of my past. He knew everything. Every name of every person I was close to, every location I've ever been, and every project I've ever worked on. He knew of my past as a Ranger, he knew of my brother's past, and he knew of the latest project at the time. ISAC. An AI that would interface with every single bit of equipment we've designed and would be able to access any computer within wireless or Bluetooth range. It was something that a total of six people knew about and was as classified as it got.
Then, he made me an offer. My emotions were running high at the time and I wasn't really in a good position to think about it clearly, but even if I were my answer would have been the same. His offer was for me to become some kind of sleeper agent and, should I be activated, I'd be paired up with three other agents, whom I wouldn't know of until that day, and do whatever was needed of us. Of me. He said that we'd have access to every bit of tech I've designed and then some and that I was an ideal candidate, since I knew what it was capable of.
I'd like to say that I thought long and hard about it, but I didn't. I said yes practically immediately. He smiled a wolf's smile and then asked what kind of equipment I'd like to have stowed away for me. That I actually had to think about. I ended up telling him that I wanted a full crate's worth of Seeker Mines, something I had designed myself. Small drones that rolled around and were loaded with different kinds of explosives that were directed by ISAC when deployed. I told him I also wanted our PDT. Personal Deployable Turret. It's a small, compact turret that makes use of the P90 weapon system that is automated through ISAC and targets hostile foes while ensuring no harm comes to friendlies or civilians. I asked for five. I didn't intend on carrying around five of them, but it never hurts to have a backup plan.
Then, I laid out what I wanted for weapons. Firstly I picked out an MP7. It was lightweight and easy to handle, as well as being a very respectable PDW. Then, I picked out the heavier of my two primary weapons. A Remington M870 MCS with an 18" barrel. I told him I wanted the ammo to be as copious as it was varied. I wanted every kind of shell possible, from slugs to frag rounds and everything in-between. I finished off my selection with a USP Compact Tactical in .45 with a flashlight and suppressor.
–
After a few days, what I had done started to sink in. I went on with my life knowing that any day I could be activated, that I'd have to drop everything and go somewhere to do important things. When we started hearing about the Green Poison, I knew it was only a matter of time. Even still, I had to go about things in a normal fashion until that time came.
My team had heard about Green Poison long before it started getting major media coverage. Classified reports from the CDC about some pandemic flu spreading across Africa came onto our desks about a year before I was activated. It seemed to be a combination of many different things; Smallpox, Bubonic Plague, Machupo, etc. It was clearly grown in a lab and somehow got out, whether it be intentional or not. The plan was to have one of the doctors who had been following the spreading of the sickness put onboard a Arleigh Burke-class Destroyer and sent to the Arctic, where she believed the primordial strain came from. From there, she would find a way to make a vaccine, and then return the information to the CDC so they could start mass-producing it.
They weren't back before the disease hit the US.
The last day I was moving into my new place with the help of my brother was that day. He was in-between jobs, recently having quit the Last Man Battalion, a PMC group, over a disagreement in the change of leadership. He offered to help his little sister move out of her ex's and into her new place. At this time Black Friday had already come and gone and Green Poison had started digging it's claws into the US. At the time it was mainly on the East Coast, but we both knew it wouldn't be long until it spread.
The federal government was implementing quarantine in every major city. I had just barely gotten out of Seattle before they started setting up shop there. That's when the orange LED ring lit up on my watch.
The biggest surprise of my life was when his watch also lit up. We stared for a few moments until a banging came at the door. At first I thought it might be my ex, but it wasn't. It was two spooks that had come to take us to wherever we were needed. From the trip to the airport and the flight to New York, we shared how we each got chosen.
Them picking him wasn't that big of a surprise. He was MARSOC. He had the discipline and training required, as well as being a giant of a man, standing at a little over 6'6 and weighing about 280 pounds of pure muscle. He was pretty interested in what I had worked with for the SHD. When I told him I worked on a modified ballistic shield, he laughed. Apparently that's something he had waiting for him at our safehouse.
While we were circling the airstrip to come in for a landing, ISAC came online. "Directive 51 enacted. Identity confirmed. Callsign: Blackout. Directive: Restore order to the city of New York. Current Primary Objective: Go to safehouse and link up with other agents. Division Team Echo activated."
When we landed at JFK, we saw two other completely unmarked planes getting ready to take off. We figured out pretty quickly that those belonged to other Division agents. During our trip to the safehouse we saw just how bad New York had gotten. There were bodies everywhere. Civilian, Police, EMT, National Guard. We were both pretty happy to have our personal concealed carry weapons on us, even if we didn't need to use them. Once we got to the safehouse, we heard some voices coming from one of the rooms. David made a shitty joke about what they might be doing, but we went to investigate anyways.
We knew them both. I recognized Michael instantly. He was in pretty much every picture David had from his days in MARSOC. So was Mallory. We had all been together for drinks a few times, and on one of those times I met the man who would be my husband and now my ex. There we all were. Together again. I knew it was suspicious when that one spook mentioned my friends. Now I knew why.
In David's infinite wisdom, he said the brightest thing. "You gotta be shittin' me"
