OK so I forgot to introduce this into the beginning of the story, but I didn't think of doing it until now. So what I'm going to do is every time my character gets access to a new skill, I'm gonna include it at the end of the chapter, plus a description of what it does (I know this isn't really necessary since anyone who comes here should be a Division fan but I'm still gonna do it.) As of now, here's a list of what skills my character has now.
Pulse - A compact radar that can show the locations of enemies and what kind of enemy they are.
Sticky Bomb - A powerful bomb that can be launched from a distance, stuck onto most surfaces, and can be set off instantly at any time after deployment.
Ballistic Shield - A military/police shield that protects the user from incoming damage, though the user can only use their sidearm/pistol while it is equipped.
First Aid - A healing device that can be launched onto the ground, giving any allies near it immediate healing.
Okay now, on with the chapter.
A/O: Entrances to the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels
Used As: JTF [Closed Off] Checkpoint and CERA Supply Line
Status: Under Siege by Rioters; at Risk of Compromising
POI: Finch (Ex-Military Sniper)
Top Priority: Roy Benitez- Captain of the Joint Task Force
JTF Soldier: Captain! We're getting overrun! They're killing everyone in sight!
A wolf, wearing casual clothing with a police badge on left side and an armband housing his JTF ID on his right, was watching the scene unfold on a monitor while the other JTF soldiers scrambled all over the security room. He picked up a walkie-talkie and responded.
"Damnit if they blow open the floodgates then we're gonna-" He stated but was cut off when the JTF soldier got back on the line.
JTF Soldier: Captain! They got a- AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! *gunshots*
The wolf quickly looked on a monitor and replayed the scene, and to his horror, the JTF soldier on the radio got hit over the head with an LMG and got shot in the face with it.
? POV
I ran out of the Base and headed towards the openings of the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, fighting some straggling rioters and eliminating an enemy stronghold that the JTf had a bit of trouble with. On the way to my destination, Faye filled me in on some of the details.
Faye Lau: This tunnel is a major supply line for food, meds,weapons, and sometimes reinforcements from the outside world. But we got a group of rioters with explosives trying to blast through the quarantine zone there.
Where do rioters get enough explosives to blast through a tunnel? I shake my head, not even paying attention to it as Faye continued.
Faye Lau: A JTF garrison is doing its best to hold the line, but they're weakening. And if the rioters blast through the floodgates, the tunnels flood, the supply lines cut, and a whole lot of people die.
'Oh that's just greeeeat.' I think sarcastically to myself. Faye kept on.
Faye Lau: We got confirmation Benitez is there, in the thick of it. We need that location secured and Benitez back here at base.
And that's where she stops. Okay, so now I know my mission: kill rioters, stop a bomb, kill some rioters, same someone, and kill some more rioters. Sounds good and easy...
I arrive onto the location where I need to be, and a male's voice comes; I'm gonna assume that's Captain Benitez.
Captain Bentiez: Captain Benitez, requesting immediate support at the Lincoln Tunnel Checkpoint! These assholes are storming the blockade! If they blow the floodgates they could put this whole thing underwater!
I just nod, rushing down the rows of abandoned cars and piles of barbed wire, but I got in cover when I saw 5 rioters: one with a baseball bat, and 4 with pistols, all standing next to a gasoline truck that's been lit ablaze. I also notice a canister of gas right next to them. I pull out my sniper rifle and aim for it, hoping that it was full of the flammable liquid. If not, then I'm just gonna give away my location to all of them.
I aim for it, take a deep breath, and...
Fwoosh!
The gun hits the canister, and I'm right: it did have gas in it. It splashed on two of the rioters.
"OH GOD! AHH!"
"PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!"
They both were squirming as they pat out the fires on them, as the others noticed me and called me out.
"Amateur Night, right here!" the one who wasn't on fire taunted before firing at me, while the baseball bat charged right at me. I shot both of them down quickly, and pulled out my revolver and finished off the other two, who were still trying to get the flames on them off.
I run past their dead bodies, going through a broken down fence covered in CERA signs and quickly get in cover behind a white van. There were more rioters: two snipers on top of the street signs, and about three or four regulars right on the ground, blocking my path.
I once again pull out my sniper rifle, countersniping the two snipers that were on the street sign. The rioters on the ground didn't notice until one of their bodies fell down in front of them. they started shooting in my direction, so I pulled out my assault rifle and mowed them all down, killing one of them by blowing up a propane tank near them.
I restocked at an ammo box (good god, they're everywhere) and kept running toward the opening. Half-way there, a JjTF Soldier and Captain Benitez came back on the line.
JTF Soldier: Captain! They're breaking for the tunnel! They're shooting everyone in sight!
Captain Benitez: Jesus it's like getting swarmed by locusts. Don't let them through!
That was when I knew that it was getting bad. On the top of the toll booth, I see two snipers, firing at someone - my best guess is at the JTF - so I climb up a latter on a building next to the booth to flank the snipers. It worked and they didn't see me. On the building, I can see that the rioters were firing at JTF personnel on the balcony at the security room right across from us.
I didn't have time to waste, so I pulled out my assault rifle and mowed the two snipers down. I jumped off the building on the booth and got on the roof of the toll booth. The killing of the snipers didn't go unnoticed by the rioters or JTF: the former which began to fire at me, and the latter waving at me before shooting at the rioters.
I took a few bullets, so I activated my First Aid skill, which healed me for the most part, and took out my sniper rifle and started to take the rioters out one by one.
ISAC: Warning - incoming hostiles detected.
I saw about four rioters jump down from near the edge of the tunnel, and ran into the open ground, and began to fire at me. I took them all down with single shots.
ISAC: Alert - additional hostiles detected.
Again, four more jumped down from the same position. They were smart about it this time, and got in cover before I can take them out. So I had to pull out my Mk.16 Assault Rifle again and tried to mow them down with that. After a few minutes they were all dead, and Faye got back on the line.
Faye Lau: Captain Benitez, this is Faye Lau; we are Division agents, and we have eliminated the threat to the perimeter. I'm patching you into our comms so you can direct support to where ever you need it.
Captain Benitez: That's good news but we still got plenty of bad - some of those bastards made it through and they're planting explosives on the tunnel floodgates.
Shit! Some must've slipped through while the JTF and I were fighting the rioters that were attacking us.
Captain Benitez: They're trying to get out, come hell or high water. If those bombs go off, you know which one we're gonna get.
Wasting no time at all, I quickly jumped off the toll booth's roof (inuring myself a bit in the process) and ran into the tunnel. Within it, I see rows upon rows of abandoned cars - some civilian cars and some belonging to the Fire and Police Departments. I make it to the blockade and see two rioters - one with explosives and tear gas grenades in his backpack and another equipped with a sniper rifle.
The sniper kneels down to the grenadier. "You better be rigging that explosive right. I can't be in here no more."
"I told you I got this. There's enough explosives here to bust a federal bank vault so get out of my face." The grenadier said sharply, so the sniper just turned his back and kept watch.
I pulled out a frag grenade and threw it at them. They tried to scrambled to get away from it but it exploded before they had the chance, and killed them both.
Apparently the Captain was watching, as he sent me a message.
Captain Benitez: Listen, I'm sending one of my guys down there to take care of that bomb. Cover her ass!
I look up and see a security camera - with the light on. So that's how he's watching me. I just wave to him as the double doors near me swing wide open as a JTF soldier - a female chocolate lab - runs over to the bomb. "I'll disarm this thing!" She tells me as she begins to work on the bomb.
I just nod, standing around for a while until I get some alarming news from ISAC.
ISAC: Warning - hostiles are inbound on your position.
I quickly get into cover and I reload my rifle, and sure enough, four rioters - one a heavy machine gunner - arrives. I mow the first three down and it took a couple of shots, but the LMG guy got down with my sniper.
ISAC: Alert - hostiles are headed this way.
I reload both of my weapons again, and more rioters show up. "Great! More idiots! Just great!" One yells out before getting into cover. I shoot at a couple of them while they were in cover but none of my shots hit them. I got back in cover and reloaded before hearing a cry.
"Oh shit! Cover me, dammit!" It was the JTF soldier, getting shot at by the rioters while I was reloading. At that point I mowed those rioters down, and I shot my First Aid at the JTF soldier, giving her some heal.
"I'm gonna need a minute here!" She called out soon after.
More rioters show up, one with a baseball bat running right at as. I kill him and hold the others off.
"Should be 30 seconds!"
'Hurry up...' I think to myself as more rioters show up. I keep holding them off, one of them being another LMG gunner.
"Give me another 10 seconds!"
I finally kill off that last gunner as she finished off. "I got it! Bomb's disarmed."
I was relived to hear that. Apparently, so was the Captain.
Captain Benitez: Damn that was way too close! They don't care who they kill to get what they want. Come on up and I'll meet you in the control center.
I nod, running through the double doors that the JTF soldier came from. "Thanks a lot for your help, that was close. Benitez is upstairs, I'm sure he could use us."
I open the secondary door in the hallway, with the JTF soldier leading me all the way to the command center. Inside, there was a wolf, who I'm going to assume is Captain Benitez, talking with another JTF soldier while looking something over on a clipboard.
"Jesus what we got left." He stated out loud as he handed the clipboard back to his officer and then he acknowledged me. "Glad to meet you, whoever-you-are. Hope we can count on yours this time because..."
'Well normally I like to introduce with names but I haven't been doing that as of lately, so it doesn't matter.' I just think to myself.
The Captain opens up a pair of double doors, entering the garage of the control room, which was crawling with the JTF. "...We got a big fight on our hands." He continued.
AS soon as we walked in, they all stood at attention to us. "Listen up! We got good news and we got bad news! Looks like we got Division agents as backup, but these guys out there, they just won't-"
And at that moment, the garage bay doors blew open, leaving a gaping hole with rioters swarming the area. The JTF quickly responded and opened fire at the rioters, attempting to defend the place. I joined them as quick as they showed up.
"And there's your goddamn bad news!" He yells at us before running back into the control room, picking up a walkie-talkie. ""All stations, all stations: rioters have breached the control room! Let's finish this!"
One of the rioters was ANOTHER LMG guy, except he was more like Hutch from the Field Hospital so he was going to be a little more difficult to deal with. After taking out the other rioters we (the JTF and I) could focus on the LMG rioter.
It took a bit of time, and a lot of ammo, but we got him down finally! And as if on cue, three snipers showed up (all three on the toll booth again) with one baseball bat and one regular on the ground. I took out the two on the ground first (they didn't stand the chance) and then got my sniper out and began to shoot at the snipers.
The snipers were stubborn this time, but I couldn't get close enough without getting shot so I had to keep my distance. Through all three of them ended up dead because of some stupid mistakes they made, it was costing us time: the sun was starting to set, and the JTF soldiers were looking tired. I, however, am not even feeling tired, there's just too much adraeline pumping through me.
Faye then came on the line.
Faye Lau: Looks like your playmates have a sniper position ahead. Keep your eyes open.
ANOTHER sniper!? How many rioters are trained for sniping here!? Whatever, I brush off the annoying feeling growing in my stomach and rush into cover. On the opposite side of me, I see a final sniper. His clothes looked a little more bulky and his sniper didn't look like the others, so I'm guessing this is the big boss. On the ground I see five other rioters running towards me, but they haven't noticed me.
I took the time and tried to snipe at the leader; I hit him straight in the head but it didn't seem to kill him. Fuck he must be wearing some kind of protective mask. He obviously noticed me, and so did the others, so they began to fire at me.
I barely managed to dodge the sniper's bullet, which happened to be an Class-A sniper bullet. Where do people manage to get this kind of ammo!? Anyway, I manage to hit him several more times in the head, again not doing anything significant, but enough to spook him to jump down behind the trailer truck.
I focused more on the rioters in front of me, eliminating them with ease. With my path clear - for now - I moved up behind another car, closing its slightly ajar door. That's when another wave of rioters showed up. Once again, I dealt with them with ease. I also turn around and notice the JTF was moving up with me.
"Move up on the flank!" One called out to the other.
"Cover anyone who's reloading!" another one called out as he moved up next to me.
I can see that the rioters were getting antsy so the sniper crawled back up on the truck, and hid behind the tires, occasionally peaking out and firing at us. I was about to deal with him, when ANOTHER rioter with an LMG came out of absolutely nowhere and began to fire at me. I got back into cover, knowing full well I can't take on two at the same time.
After a few shots from the head sniper, he quickly ducked back into cover and cried out. "Ahh! Someone do something!"
I look behind and notice that the JTF who followed me began to focus their fire on the sniper, effectively pinning them down. This was great news, cause now I can focus my fire on the LMG guy and took him down without worry. The sniper was still pinned down.
"I can't move!" He cried out again, probably not knowing that most of his comrades were dead. I took this opportunity to flank him. He noticed and unknowingly stepped out of cover as I began to fire at him. After emptying a magazine on him, he looked almost dead. But before I could even reload, a JTF soldier took the killing shot from me. I was impressed by them when his body fell over on the pavement.
The same JTF soldier noticed his death too, so radioed it in to the Captain. That's when he -and Faye- came on the line again.
Captain Benitez: Agent, my people say the threat has been eliminated. I thank you, my guys thank you, and the people of New York fucking thank you. I'm on my way back to the base with an escort, let's talk when you get there.
Faye Lau: Good job, agent. If they blown those floodgates, we would've lost a major supply line. Now Benitez can get back to the security wing. See you back here.
I brush the sweat off my forehead, and begin the somewhat long run back to the Base.
Base of Operations
Security Wing
As I walk into the Security Wing, I see Captain Benitez and Lau looking something over. They then notice me.
"Come on over." She tells me. "Captain Benitez even found some fresh coffee."
I chuckle a little as I walked over to them.
"I just happened to have walked by what's left of Kerman's." he said half-halfheartedly. He then gets to the point. "So what we're responsible for is Midtown to Lower Manhattan...mainly because no one can get off this island by now, including us. The biggest problem we have is manpower...or lack thereof."
He points and mentions the map on his table, which was covered in red and yellow thumbtacks. "Right now, we got criminal elements occupying and controlling most of these neighborhoods."
"Rikers, Cleaners, street thugs..." Faye adds on.
"Now I don't have enough people to secure a block, much less maintain order and safety. So basically these assholes are running around taking whatever they want and killing whoever they want because we got nobody to stop them!"
"Which means we get the task of cleaning up most of these neighborhoods, so we can at least get food and aid to the residents." Faye states, and I nod, agreeing with her.
Captain Benitez takes a sip of the coffee in his hand. "I dunno...I mean an area this size...this many bad guys - I don't think you guys can handle it alone."
He needs to review the security footage around here and take a second look on what I can do.
He then looks at me. "I mean no offense, but I don't like the idea of throwing you out in the streets like that."
Faye then looks at him. "Captain, we're prepared to handle this."
The Captain just nods. "Right...well, maybe you can convince the Division to send more of guys like you?" He said, nodding at me.
"For the time being, what you see is what you get." He puts it to him straight and narrow.
"I can't believe I'm just begging the feds to take over my city." He says with a cold tone, and looks away.
Faye just seems to ignore his comment, and looks at me. "Any intel we receive, you'll be the first to know. Good luck out there."
As I'm walking out, I feel the Captain looking at me. "You'll need it." he tells me briefly.
NEW SKILL AVAILABLE-
Smart Cover- Placeable device that can reinforce surrounding cover, improving weapon performance, stabilization, and reload speed for the user and any allies within Smart Cover.