The Phantom Division

by ReaperOfBalance

Jack and Maddie Fenton have royally screwed up and Danny wants nothing to do with them, the town, or his so called friends and sister who sold him out to his former parents. Now, 10 years after he left, he's going to New York to help stop a pandemic, but what else waits for him in that city? No matter how hard you run from your past, it eventually catches up.

5. Chapter 5: Fully Operational

Hey guys and welcome back, glad to see people are enjoying this fic so much.

Time for Faye and Danny to get the Post Office fully operational, meaning getting Benitez and Rhodes back to HQ safe and sound.

Also, just so you know, when I am doing the missions/dungeons/important operations such as Rescuing Kandel or Benitez, I am plaything through them on my max level profile to get the details on the enemies there. I then play through them on the saved game for this fic to do what loot I find and possibly have Danny or Faye equip.

Oh, and guys, the plot so far may not have changed much, beyond Faye and Snake at least, but trust me: THE CHANGES ARE COMING. I'm just building up to them rather than just slapping you over the head with them. I already hinted at one major change already, you just may have missed it.

Not much else to say or go over, so let's get the show on the road.

NOTES: JTF = Joint Task Force
LMD = Last Man Battalion
SHD aka The Division = Security of the Homeland Division
ISAC = Intelligent System Analytic Computer
CERA = Catastrophic Emergency Response Agency
ECHO = Evidence Correlation Holographic Overlay
BoO = Base of Operations aka The Post Office
LMG = Light Machine Gun
SMG = Sub Machine Gun

ENEMY TYPES: GRUNTS: The run of the mill enemies that have nothing special to them, but they will try to flank and harass you every chance they get. The Cleaner variant has a flamethrower and fuel tank on their back that can explode when hit enough times.
GRENADIERS: The enemies that, you guessed it, have grenades and aren't shy about using them, but also are walking targets since a well-placed shot or shots will detonate their explosives bag. If you're lucky or just that good, you can also shoot a grenade while it's in their hand as they try to throw it as well.
RUSHERS: The enemies that will charge straight at you to deal damage, force you out of cover, or just make your life more difficult. Melee combatants carrying baseball bats or fireman axes with a makeshift ballistic shield. Later on, there'll be ones that are armored soldiers with Shotguns and flashbang grenades.
LIEUTENANTS: The enemies that are more protected and do more damage than the previous ones. They've got a combination of the previous groups attributes and styles as they have grenades, will rush up on you to try and push you out of cover, and will stay back and help fight beside other members of their group. In game they can also give buffs to their allies, but in this case they just inspire fear/courage to keep fighting since they'll put down anyone that tries to run away.
HEAVIES: In normal/accepted cliché fashion, they are the biggest enemies and carry the heavy weapons and take the second most damage before dying. Usually it's an LMG, but other enemy groups have different variations of them. However, they all share the same weakness in that they always have a pack or container that can be shot and made to explode dealing heavy damage to the enemy and those in a close enough proximity. Some also carry grenades and aren't shy about lobbing them at you, though the type of grenade depends on what faction they're a part of.
MARKSMAN: The snipers of the enemy groups. They retreat and move quickly to a cover, usually elevated cover if they can, and they will wait to pick shots at you and will immediately take cover if you shoot at them regardless of if you hit or not. Usually, the best method is being the better marksman or keeping them suppressed in cover until you can get closer and kill them.

AGENCY TECH: PULSE: A sonar like scan emitted by ISAC from the Division/Shade Tech watches that all Division Agents wear. It thoroughly scans the area, usually a 20 foot radius, around the unit and marks the enemies for the Division Agents' personal HUD field.
BALLISTIC SHIELD: Much stronger than your typical riot or control shield. Advanced tech makes it lightweight and collapsible while making it sturdy enough to withstand quite a bit of damage and abuse before it's unusable.
STICKY BOMB LAUNCHER: As the name implies it fires a sticky bomb at the targeted location while also acting as the trigger device once the bomb has stuck to something/someone. ISAC will also give a highlighted explosion zone to allow for proper ambushes. Sticky Bombs can be modified to a user's preference such as a bigger explosion, more shrapnel, be an electrical bomb, or even set fires.
SEEKER MINES: Sphere shaped mines that target the closest enemy to the user within a certain range. They are automated to roll after the enemy if dropped or can be thrown to get them closer to an enemy to attack. Like Sticky Bombs, they can be modified to have a variety of ordinance and can even split into several small balls to attack multiple enemies at once.

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, The Division, they're shows, games, books, merchandise, etc etc, or anything else that comes into this fic, be nice if I did but I don't.

"Speech"

"Thoughts"

[TV/Radio/Book/Communicator/Recording]

"ISAC's Voice"

CHAPTER 4: FULLY OPERATIONAL

HUDSON YARDS

Danny and Faye were both running as fast as they could, occasionally having to slow down to kill a few Rioters along the way. [Agents, the Lincoln Tunnel is the major supply line for food, weapons, and medicine from the outside world. Only, now we got a group of Rioters attacking with explosives, indicated by a recent comm chatter we picked up. The JTF there are holding the line to keep the quarantine in place, but they're struggling and if the Rioters blow the flood gates, the tunnel floods, the supply lines are cut, and a lot of people will die. We have confirmation that Benitez is there in the thick of it, we need that tunnel secured, the supply line kept open, and Benitez back at base. Go to work, you two, and make sure Benitez is kept alive and the tunnel left open.] Snake stated over the comms getting confirmation from the two as they moved.

They ignored any chance to scavenge, and also ISAC informing them of a data file at the mouth of the tunnel security point. [This is Captain Benitez, we need immediate reinforcements at the Lincoln Tunnel Checkpoint, these assholes are storming the blockade! They're pressing hard and we can't hold out much longer. If they breach those floodgates, they could put this whole thing underwater.] Benitez stated over the comms as they got closer and found some Rioters standing around the first overpass near a leaking fuel tank that was on fire.

Taking aim, they quickly shot five of them in quick succession before a few more came running up. It was just a couple grunts, and they were felled quickly, but some of their friends were close by and quickly rushed in and, unlike the last group of Rioters, these ones were smart enough to take cover.

Of course, Faye and Danny soon needed to use cover as two heavies came around the tanker and started spraying their position with bullets. Pulse showed there were two heavies, two grenadiers, three grunts, and a captain.

ISAC also noted that the captain had body armor on, not as much as a heavy did but still more protection than most of their enemies so far had.

Danny, naturally, went prone and began shooting the legs of anyone that he could see taking out the three grunts easily while Faye kept getting shots off when she could since the two heavies were going back and forth on who was shooting at them.

However, Faye had to duck back quickly as the captain quickly rushed up firing an Uzi at them and tossed a grenade, which thankfully cleared too far to hit them.

Danny drew his sidearm and flung himself to the edge of the car before he put three bullets into the captain's head killing her. Danny then turned his attention to the grenadiers and shot one in his bag causing it to explode, which caused a compound explosion as one of the cars he was by also exploded sending shrapnel that damaged one of the heavies.

Danny then pulled himself up and reloaded his pistol while Faye took the distraction to move between the cars to flank their remaining enemies. With her shotgun at the ready, she waited till they were focused on Danny again before rising up and putting two rounds into the heavies' ammo packs causing them to go off.

While the last grenadier was distracted, Danny quickly shot him in the head with his rifle. Looking to Faye, he saw that she was trying to control her breathing, which was understandable as they had been at this for a couple hours now and it would be getting dark soon.

Danny then opened a pouch and tossed her an energy bar. "Eat that, it will help keep you going until we can get back to base." Danny stated making Faye nod her thanks as she quickly ate it before Danny reached into a pouch and grabbed a grenade before he tossed it at the tanker making Faye widen her eyes.

However, before she could consider taking cover, she watched as the ball released a kind of gas/foam that enveloped a small area like a smoke grenade would. She blinked as she saw the fire around the tanker quickly getting snuffed out until the flames were completely gone.

Turning to Danny, he shrugged, "Fire suppression grenade. It sucked the oxygen away and thus the fire extinguished itself." Danny stated making her nod.

"But why though?" Faye asked making Danny raise an eyebrow before motioning to above them showing an overpass right above the tanker.

"If that tanker blew, the damage could cause that overpass to collapse causing even more problems, not only knocking out this route but also stopping us from using that overpass to get around." Danny stated making Faye nod before they pressed in.

Winding through the cars and trucks stopped on the roads, they came to the next overpass and quickly took cover as Danny spotted a marksman up on a highway sign. A quick Pulse showed two marksmen, two grenadiers, four grunts, and a captain. Danny motioned Faye to move to the far traffic lane, which was separated by a beat-up fencing line with some gaps in it.

Danny then went low and quickly popped off both marksmen before they could react before taking out one of the grenadiers at the legs. This caused the others to try and scramble, but two of the grunts were consumed in an explosion as Danny shot the grenadier's bag causing it to explode. Danny then had to move as a grenade was thrown near him and he dove behind a wall cropping just as the grenade lit the area he was in on fire.

Faye then sprang up from her position and fired on the grunts taking them out before she managed to hit the grenadier. She couldn't finish him though as she had to dive away from a grenade before she had to stay in cover as the captain began shooting at her spot, seeming to have forgotten Danny.

Naturally, this proved fatal as Danny moved up and shot the grenadier in the head before plunging his knife into the captain's throat. For good measure, he yanked the knife out and quickly stabbed just behind the third rib taking the heart and lung out in one swift action.

"You good?" Danny asked as Faye got up and nodded before they quickly resupplied from a nearby ammo crate before storing it as well. They then moved through the final overpass between them and the tunnel.

[Captain! They're breaking for the tunnel; they're killing everything in sight!] They heard as they approached the main hub/control of the tunnel.

[Jesus, it's like getting swarmed by locusts. Don't let any of them through, reports say there's been explosions and gunfire on the way into here, we may be getting some back up finally. Dig in as best you can.] Benitez replied as more and more gunfire was heard.

Faye and Danny both hurried up as Faye used her Pulse to get a lay of the land and found that there were two Heavies, three Grenadiers, two Marksmen, two captains, and three grunts attacking the security hub for the tunnel.

"I'll go high." Danny stated as he moved to the far right and climbed a ladder that took him to the roof of a security booth. While there, he quickly shot the two marksmen, who were near him on a slightly lower area, before he began putting rounds into the heavies' packs.

This, naturally, drew attention to him, but it was too late for one of the heavies as his pack went off making all the bullets held within start firing hitting the heavy and two grunts near him, all three dying from becoming Swiss Cheese. Danny then quickly tossed an incendiary grenade towards the other heavy, who quickly tried to move but wasn't fast enough as the grenade went off setting his legs on fire.

While they were all sufficiently distracted, Faye had moved and ambushed the captains with two shotgun blasts to their heads. She then swung around and shot one of the grenadiers before she was forced into cover to reload her gun.

"We need backup right now!" The grenadier shouted over a radio before Danny then popped around a corner of a metal plate that he was taking cover behind and shot him and the last grunt.

[Holy shit! Sir, I don't who the fuck they are, but it looks like the calvary finally fucking got here. We got at least two unknowns wiping out the Rioters with extreme prejudice out here!] A soldier stated over the comms as Danny and Faye dismantled the Rioters before ISAC warned of more incoming.

[Doesn't matter, if they're killing those assholes then for the moment, they're okay in my book. Give them some support if you can, but do not allow any more of those fuckers into the tunnel.] Benitez stated since any help right now, no matter the source, was okay with him.

Danny used Pulse and saw that three lieutenants and five grunts were rushing out of the tunnel. Danny quickly fired his Sticky Bomb Launcher at the lieutenants and hit one before detonating it, which was a larger than normal detonation as the lieutenant had a backpack of grenades on her. As a result, three grunts were consumed by the blast or hit by shrapnel since that particular sticky bomb was designed for shrapnel than a straight blast.

Another captain met her end from Faye's shotgun while Danny picked off the other two grunts with his rifle. The last captain ducked behind a car and quickly lobbed grenades at Faye, who cursed and quickly moved before the grenades exploded causing some of the left behind cars to blow, but the explosion was somewhat subdued making Danny idly note that the JTF likely siphoned the gas from the cars. The lieutenant then tried to throw a grenade at Danny, but he fired at the grenade hitting it before she could let it go causing her to explode.

"WARNING: HOSTILES INCOMING!" ISAC stated before Faye used Pulse and saw three Heavies, one Marksman, two captains, and three grenadiers coming from the tunnel and Danny quickly fired and took out the marksman.

He then tossed a Flashbang grenade towards the Heavies, who tried to move but were too slow. While they were blinded, Danny tossed two incendiary grenades at them setting both on fire. Not only did they panic and try to put the flames out, but the fire started heating up their ammo packs setting the rounds off and tearing them apart.

Faye had switched back to her MP-5 and quickly shot the grenadiers in their heads before she was forced back to cover from the captains aiming at her. Of course, even when one turned to shoot at Danny to keep him suppressed, they weren't keeping track of their ammo.

Within a minute, there were several CLICK CLICK CLICKS indicating they were empty. Faye and Danny quickly capitalized on that and killed them before Danny began making his way down.

"Captain Benitez, this is Faye Lau. We are Division Agents, we're here to help resolve the situation and provide support. The perimeter is clear for the moment. We're patching you into our comms so you can direct us to what needs to be done." Faye stated once the area was clear of hostiles.

[That's great and all, but we still got problems. Some of those assholes made it down into the tunnel with explosives. They're determined to get through come hell or high water; and if they blow those gates, you know what we're gonna get.] Benitez replied in a tone that all but said to get their asses down the tunnel asap.

"Copy that, if you got someone experienced with bombs, have them ready to come down and help disarm anything they may have set up. These assholes aren't going to just leave us be once we start working on the explosives." Danny stated as they moved for the tunnel.

[I copy that, I've got one of my best techs waiting to come help once you give the all clear.] Benitez replied as the two made their way down the tunnel.

They moved between different cars and trucks left behind before reaching the gate and found two Rioters setting the explosives. Danny just drew his sidearm and popped both in the head, "Gate's clear, we'll start digging in to give your tech time." Danny stated as he got into a nearby ambulance and hotwired it before pulling it forward to give the tech cover.

"I'll take the walkway." Faye stated as she moved onto the walkway that lined the right side of the tunnel if you were entering it and took cover with her weapon at the ready. Danny then took hopped out of the ambulance and took cover behind a set of makeshift barricades to stop traffic.

A moment later had a utility door open before a woman in JTF gear came out and rushed over to the explosives. "Good news and bad news, I can disable this, but it's gonna take me a few minutes." She stated as Danny and Faye acknowledged her and got ready for an attack.

[Agents you got incoming, we can't slow them down as we're trying to move our wounded out of the line of fire. You're on your own for a while.] Benitez stated over the comms.

"Copy that, we'll be fine. Worry about your people." Danny replied as he fired a Sticky Bomb just under a car down the tunnel from them and had a grenade ready to be thrown.

"Incoming hostiles detected." ISAC stated causing Danny to use his Pulse and see six rushers, two heavies, two grenadiers, and two grunts coming towards them. Danny quickly pulled the pin and tossed the grenade he was holding to his left a good eight feet from Faye's position where it popped releasing white smoke that Faye identified as Tear Gas since it didn't release like a normal smoke grenade.

A series of coughs and curses informed them that a few of the Rioters had rushed straight into it thinking it was just simple smoke. Faye quickly did some blind firing through the smoke just to see if she'd get lucky, which based on the screams and shouts, she was.

She didn't want to use her Pulse just yet since it needed time to recharge and there was going to be more of these fuckers 's had already worn off, so she had to just blind fire.

Danny then fired as a few came from the tunnel edge and made them take cover before he detonated the Sticky Bomb causing the car to explode and take out the Rioters near it, which also began making the tunnel get smoked out a bit too. Another quick Pulse showed that the two heavies and one grenadier were what was left. Although, based on what their personal HUD was showing, one of the heavies was injured as he was moving with a limp.

By this point, the Tear Gas had dissipated, but now smoke from the car was creating a view blockage. Both Danny and Faye had their guns ready waiting for one of the Rioters to make the first move from the smoke.

A spray of bullets at Danny's position revealed a heavy approaching and forcing Danny into cover while Faye waited for an opening. Danny merely sat behind cover as the heavy kept spraying at his cover mentally counting how long before the gun jammed, or he had to adjust the belt.

That moment came a minute later, however that's also when the other heavy came out and began spraying. Danny merely dug out a grenade and tossed it at the wall letting it ricochet and land by the heavies. The one reloading looked at it in alarm before laughing as he saw the pin was still in it, "Helps if you pull the pin, shit for brains." The heavy mocked before widening his eyes as he saw Faye there with her weapon ready as she shot the grenade in his hand consuming him and the other Heavy in an explosion.

"We need support in the tunnel, these fuckers are cutting us down." The lone grenadier called over his radio before he dropped from Faye shooting him.

"How's it going back there?" Danny called as he checked his ammo.

"They either have someone with experience or just really fucking lucky! This shit is all interwoven together half-hazardly but just well enough that it complicates this shit. I'm gonna need more time to make sure this is done right." The tech shouted as she worked.

"Then we'll give you it." Danny stated as he pulled out another grenade as they heard movement and did a Pulse. ISAC showed that 4 rushers, 1 heavy, 1 grenadier, and 2 grunts were pushing in now.

Danny popped one grenade and threw it down the way where it rolled and stopped before it exploded releasing fire up to 10 feet away from it. Based on the screams, he set a few on fire and no doubt was slowing the others down as well. Danny took a few seconds to check his ammo and found he had enough to last for this engagement, if nothing fucking ridiculous happened as would be his luck, but he'd still need to resupply soon.

Hearing footsteps, he quickly rose and opened fire on the grunts and last rusher standing before he was forced into cover due to a flashbang and the heavy firing on his position.

Faye quickly rose and fired on the grenadier putting him down before he could be an even bigger problem. She then fired into the heavy, but his armor was tougher than the others and he swept his vision to her and began firing. Danny then moved from cover and moved up to him making him turn, but before he could fire, Danny had his pistol in his face and put a round through his eye at point-blank range.

"Just need a couple more minutes and this will be done." The tech called as Danny reloaded as did Faye before a Pulse showed that 3 rushers, 2 heavies, 2 grenadiers, and 1 grunt were coming down next.

[Agents, my scouts up top report there's no other signs of hostiles in the immediate area, wipe out that next wave and that should be the last for the moment.] Benitez informed as Danny moved cover behind a taxi since the metal plate he was behind was pretty shot up now.

Faye loaded her Sticky Bomb Launcher and waited as Danny got a couple grenades ready. Danny kept his sidearm out and once the rushers came, he quickly popped them all in the head dropping them before he took cover as the heavies began firing.

Faye took that opportunity to shoot her Sticky Bomb at the group making the heavies stop shooting and try to move, but Danny quickly tossed three grenades towards them and Faye detonated the bomb just as the grenades hit ground.

The resulting explosion was impressive, though thankfully not so much that it risked the tunnel collapsing on itself and them in the process. Of course, some of that impressiveness was because of the grenadiers' own bombs being added to the mix.

"Done! Holy shit this was a real piece of work." The tech stated as she sat back with a sigh and Danny came up and collected the explosives from the wall.

No reason to waste good plastic explosives after all.

[Dammit, that was too close. They don't care who they kill to get what they want.] Benitez stated in an angry tone, [Come on up to the Control Room and we'll talk.] He continued as Danny and Faye quickly scavenged what they could, both from the vehicles and from the corpses not consumed in the explosions.

"Nice work, and thanks, that was real close. The Captain's probably waiting for you so better head on in. Just follow the open doors, you can't miss it." The tech stated as Danny eyed her a moment and continued on with Faye.

Along the way, they found several backpacks of supplies counting medical and grenades and they quickly scooped them up and pocketed them while also grabbing two ammo boxes along the way. Based on the amount of dust that was on all of them, it was possible that Benitez' men didn't even know they were there.

"Shit, what we got left?" Benitez, an older gentleman that had grey hair and had a look in his eyes that said he had seen a lot of shit and gotten through it, asked as they entered the main room. "Glad to meet you, whoever you are, hope we can count on you and yours this time, because we've got quite the shit show here." Benitez stated as he headed for the garage.

"Saw that, may want to consider moving a lot of those cars to form a blockade in front of the gate at times. It would slow down anyone trying to get through." Danny stated as Benitez nodded.

"Right, we were doing that when those animals attacked us." Benitez stated as they entered the garage.

"All right, listen up." Benitez hollered getting attention from the various JTF personnel, who Danny could tell had definitely been in the thick of it since their armor and gear was all banged up and showed use. "Good News and Bad News. Good news, we got Division Agents with us now to lend a hand." Benitez stated before Danny frowned as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and used Pulse causing him to widen his eyes. "Bad news is that these-" Benitez started before Danny grabbed him.

"EVERYONE DOWN!" Danny shouted as he pulled Benitez to the ground and covered him with his body just as the front gates/doors of the garage exploded.

Luckily, everyone listened and took cover so the only real problem was the smoke funneling in, but that was clearing out quickly as the vacuum of air was rushing out the new hole. Danny quickly got up and fired blindly through the smoke hoping to stall anyone coming in, "Get Benitez out of here!" Danny ordered the soldiers, two of whom quickly grabbed Benitez and made their way through the control room as Faye got back on her feet and took cover along with Danny.

Five rushers all charged in at once, but once they were shot down pretty quickly, everyone had to take cover as multiple bullet sprays started flooding into the area through the new hole in the wall. A Pulse from Faye showed there were five heavies all firing at once with two captains and three grenadiers behind them. If that wasn't bad enough, there were three snipers and six grunts plus another four captains even further back by the booths.

"Benitez, fall your people back! We can't assume this isn't another distraction to blow the gates! We'll handle them out here, you make sure they can't try to blow the gates again!" Danny shouted as he quickly used another of the balls letting it light up as it quickly rolled away and then split into dozens of smaller balls. The balls rolled before getting near the enemies and exploding doing damage to the heavies while killing the grunts and grenadiers.

"Right, I got a few men up top that will provide support once you remove those snipers!" Benitez shouted as he and his group fell back out of the garage area.

[This is Benitez, the control room has been breached. Everyone capable of fighting, grab a weapon and ready yourselves. Division Agents are going to press the attack while a majority of us ensure they don't try to get through the tunnel again. Anyone not with me should report to one of the fortified areas to either lend a hand to the agents or watch for any reinforcements we need to be concerned about. Let's go to work, people.] Benitez stated over the radio as Danny quickly took a shot at one of the marksmen putting a round through her head before she could blink and took cover as the heavies started recovering from the explosions.

"Shit, they're really going all out." Faye stated as she got her Sticky Bomb Launcher ready for when she could get the shot off.

"Yup, good news is this should break the spirits of anyone else ever considering this shit again." Danny stated knowing the number of Rioters being brought down here would not only help stabilize the surrounding area, but it would also make everyone think twice about assaulting this position.

Danny then pulled a smoke grenade out and quickly tossed it to the hole covering them long enough to move to a better position near the doors.

Danny used his Pulse again letting Faye use her Sticky Bomb on two Heavies that were close together. The explosion took the two out, but apparently motivated the captains to come up to support the remaining three heavies.

Danny pulled another grenade out, though this one was more cylindrical than the others, and pulled the pin before throwing it where the heavies and two captains were. The grenade hit the ground before it began sparking and then electrocuted the five near it making them scream while the ammo belts on the heavies went off killing them and the two captains.

Without the spray of bullets, Danny was able to peak and get a bead on one of the snipers and put a round in her chest before moving back to cover. Faye used that moment to put a shotgun slug through one captain's face ending her before she had to get back into cover as well.

"How many bombs and mines you got left?" Danny asked as he readied his rifle.

"One sticky and three mines. You?" She asked as she reloaded her MP-5.

"One sticky and four mines still. We need to get Rhodes back soon so we can reconnect with base and get some supplies coming in." Danny stated as he absentmindedly peaked and took out the last sniper before firing at a captain and hit her arm before having to move back into cover.

Faye quickly popped out and fired a burst at each of the remaining captains forcing them to duck and take cover. Of course, that was only a distraction for Danny to get a bead on them and take out two more before Faye killed the last two and reloaded her weapon.

"WARNING: HOSTILES INCOMING!" ISAC warned before a Pulse showed that they had incoming from the far side of the freeway.

"I'll fly." Danny stated as he quickly climbed a truck and got on top of the booths before he had to duck as a sniper round hit the metal plate he was behind. Releasing another Pulse showed that there was one marksman, two captains, three grenadiers, one heavy, and four grunts out there.

"Subject identified as Finchley "Finch" Lawrence. Wanted for crimes of murder, exciting riots, property damage, and stealing supplies. Suspected in murders of over 50 JTF personnel. Calculating… Estimated 61% drop in animosity towards JTF if removed." ISAC reported identifying the marksman making Danny narrow his eyes as he got ready while Faye moved slowly upwards in cover.

Danny fired at Finch, missing just slightly due to the wind shifting at the last moment, but it still worked as it made him take cover allowing Danny to pick off the grenadiers quickly before the heavy began firing on him. Faye, by that point, had moved into position and took out the grunts in rapid succession with her MP-5 before she had to move to cover as the captains began focusing on her.

Danny, seeing that Faye was pinned at the moment and could get flanked, moved to an adjacent sign and peaked his rifle out and popped one of the captains in the head. The other captain scrambled for cover, but in doing so allowed Faye to go prone and take her out at her legs before a couple rounds put her down for good.

Faye then fired on the heavy as well wearing him down before he turned his attention to her only to get a bullet through his eye courtesy of Danny when he turned his attention away.

"What the fuck are you idiots doing?! Get in there and smoke these fuckers right fucking now!" Finch shouted as more Rioters came in towards them.

A quick Pulse told them all they needed to know: One heavy, three captains, three grenadiers, two rushers, and three grunts. Danny went for the captains while Faye, still prone, was shooting the legs from anyone that she could see taking out the grunts and rushers with ease.

However, she had stayed in position too long, and one of the grenadiers chucked a grenade near her forcing her to scramble for a different cover as the car she was using exploded with the grenade.

Danny was quick to cover her, popping two of the grenadiers before he was forced back into cover as Finch stopped hiding and fired on Danny. Before Danny could try and get his bearings to return fire, he had to draw and fire his sidearm as the last of the captains tried to flank him, but two rounds to the chest and one to the head sorted that mess out rather quickly.

Danny then came up and fired at Finch and managed to wing him before ducking as the heavy started firing on him again. Faye took that moment to pop up again and killed the heavy with a near point-blank shotgun blast to the face before she drew her sidearm and fired on the last grenadier putting him down.

"God fucking dammit! I thought I was working with a bunch of badasses and capable fuckers! How the fuck are we getting beaten back by two bitch-ass pussies from the JTFuckers?! Get your asses in gear now!" Finch shouted as another group came rushing in, hopefully the last of them too.

A Pulse showed that there were three heavies, four captains, three grenadiers, three rushers, and six grunts. Danny quickly popped the grunts as soon as they were in sight while the others ducked into cover, though the grenadiers were ambushed by Faye and her shotgun before they even knew what happened.

Faye then dove for cover as all guns were turned towards her, but Danny wasn't going to allow that and quickly shot two of the captains before he finally got a bead and put a round through Finch's head sending him off the truck he was camping on. Danny then dropped one of his mines (the ball) leaving him with only three left as it rolled away.

The mine rolled away before splitting into six more before they exploded into an inferno burning two of the heavies, and subsequently setting their ammo off, along with getting one of the captains.

Faye quickly had to deal with the rushers and did so with a combination of knife and pistol combat as she dodged their swings and either cut or shot them at the openings. The last Heavy was forced into cover as Danny began raining bullets down on him with his AK before Faye moved and fired her shotgun into his head.

Faye sighed slightly in relief as she reloaded her guns and Danny did the same before climbing down to the ground. [Agents, my men say the threat has been eliminated. I thank you; my men thank you, and the people of New York fucking thank you. I'm enroute to base, come and see me once you're back.] Benitez stated over comms.

[Good work guys, you not only saved Benitez but you saved the lives of people those supplies will help keep alive. Come on back to base and we'll talk to the good Captain.] Snake stated as Faye and Danny began scavenging off their numerous dead opponents along with the different cars and ambulances.

Everything that was usable and could be used was scooped up no matter how mundane or regular it was.

[Agent, we got two pieces of disturbing video footage. These Rioters are nothing more than goddamn animals. And the Rikers? Hell, just give them all a firing squad right now as far as I'm concerned. Agent Snake has uploaded them to you.] Benitez stated with his tone being very unhappy.

Danny pulled the first video up as Faye came and stood beside him and they watched a quad feed from the subway as a pair of civilians ran for their lives from Rioters before they were eventually cornered and beaten to death. The second video was from a squad car investigating the disappearance of another patrol, only for them to be ambushed by the Rikers before their entire car was shot to hell by the bastards.

"Looks like we're gonna have some payback to dish out." Danny stated as Faye nodded with a frown on her face. "Come on, let's finish searching the area and then we'll head back to talk to Benitez." He ordered and she nodded as they kept looking and gathering.

While most of the findings were crap or not as good as what they had, Danny did find a new mask, a new gun in a Military G36 that he replaced his AK with and Faye took an M249 B LMG not caring for the MP-5 anymore and it even came with an enlarged ammo box. They also found two Laminate vests and replaced their now beat up vests with them. Everything else was stored in a cube to be delivered to the base for usage by the JTF.

On the way out of the tunnel area, they found the data file that ISAC had pinged near a police cruiser. ISAC accessed it and showed it was titled Safe Passage: [Alright, here's the deal. I've got an emergency raft stashed up at a pier on the west side. Now, the JTF is still running a blockade on the Hudson, but if we do it at night, we can slip past them. Even with me knowing their patrol by heart, though, it ain't gonna be easy. So, I'm not giving these spots away. You want to ride; you've got to pay. And remember, no cash, gold or useless bullshit like that. It's got have significant value. But I'm sure you'll figure something out - if you want this bad enough.] A male stated with some undertones of intentions being clear.

"Not surprising that someone learned the pattern and was using it to make some money or something extra." Danny stated as he shook his head. "Come on, let's go see Benitez and get a sitrep as well as unload the supplies we've got before heading to finds Rhodes." Danny stated making Faye nod as they began their trek back.

Walking into the base, the trip being uneventful beyond helping a few people with some supplies and clothes, they found Snake standing by Benitez and Val in the Security Wing looking over a tactical map. "Come on over, Captain Benitez managed to find some fresh coffee." Snake stated holding a cup up as he stood there.

"I just happened to walk by what's left of Kerman's." Benitez stated before motioning to the map, "So, officially, what we're responsible for is Midtown to lower Manhattan, mainly because nobody can get off this island right now, including us. Unofficially, the entire island is in chaos and we may as well be tasked with all of it." Benitez stated with a sigh as he took a drink of coffee. "Our biggest problem is our lack of manpower. Right now, we have criminal elements occupying and controlling pretty much every neighborhood south of Central Park that's not contained in the Dark Zone." Benitez stated motioning to the different colored thumbtacks at each neighborhood.

"Rikers, Cleaners, Rioters, and I'm willing to bet the LMB on the East Side as well." Danny stated already having guessed what most of the issues were.

"Far as we know, LMB ain't doing shit, but we're spread so thin keeping communications going and getting up to date intel is hard. I barely have enough people to keep the base secure, much less maintain any semblance of order and safety out there. So basically, these assholes are running around taking whatever they want, killing whatever they want, and basically doing anything they want without anyone to really stop them." Benitez stated as Danny nodded.

"Until now that is." Danny stated seriously making the two non-Division members look at him. "If the JTF can't do it right now, that means Faye and I will just have to go through each neighborhood ourselves. We can use ISAC and our network to reestablish communications with any safe houses you have in the different neighborhoods and we'll take care of the serious issues: Eliminate any hierarchy, remove any hostile presence we find, and secure any and all supplies possible to keep the base and the locations running smoothly. The more we give the people hope, the more they'll be willing to help in different ways. We can get recruits for all three wings and maybe even some extra help in other areas from them. However, the main point is to keep the hope alive and ensure that the quarantine of the island isn't broken or things are just gonna get even worse." Danny stated seriously as Val smirked at him and Benitez sighed.

"I don't know… I mean an area of this size, this many bad guys – I don't think you people can handle it with just the two of you." Benitez stated with a sigh as he looked at them. "I mean, no offense. You both have done some great work so far; I just don't like the idea of throwing you to the wolves." Benitez stated making Danny and Snake snort.

"We are the wolves, Captain. These guys are just a bunch of assholes." Snake stated making Benitez look at him.

"Great, so why don't you get on the comms and get your Division to send some more reinforcements?" Benitez asked as Danny sighed.

"Not that simple captain. Look at it from a tactical point of view: You send in what is basically an elite assault squad of some of your best and brightest to contain a situation. Then in less than three weeks they all go missing. Concerned, you send in a second wave of what you've got left and ready to send. Only, day one of the second wave being deployed, all but three are wiped out in an ambush attack and their CO is KIA. Do you risk even more of your elites in that situation? Or do you have your intelligence units digging into more information before you try and risk sending in a third wave? Let alone having to go through all the proper channels and procedures to get that third wave through the quarantine and blockade?" Danny stated/explained making Benitez sigh.

"All right, I see you're point. Can't believe I'm practically beggin' the feds to take over my city… The days we now find ourselves in." Benitez stated with a heavy sigh.

"Uh, cap." A JTF soldier stated as he approached.

"What is it, son?" Benitez asked and the officer had a stunned look on his face.

"Well, there's a group of civies outside. Apparently, the Agents here saved them and after hearing about an incident at Camp Hudson, they decided to come here to help as best they could." The soldier stated surprising most of the room.

"How many we talking?" Benitez stated and the soldier looked back towards the entrance.

"At least 50 or so, sir. They brought clothes and supplies they had with them to add to our stores as well." The soldier stated making Benitez look on in shock.

"Well fuck me. Get Kandel to do a screening of them and get them through the decon tent to make sure they're clean. Then get them sorted, fed if needed, and then we'll go from there." Benitez stated making the soldier solute him and walk off.

"Guess our odds just went up a bit, just need to train whoever is gonna be helping with security." Benitez stated and Danny nodded.

"I think I can get a couple friends of mine to the city once we get Rhodes back to help me get a communication out. It may not be much, but they'll be able to help get the men in better fighting shape and they can bring in some supplies we no doubt are sorely in need of." Danny stated making everyone look at him.

"These friends of yours trustworthy and capable?" Benitez stated and Danny nodded.

"I'd place my life in their hands any day of the week." Danny stated making Benitez shrug.

"Shit, kid, by all means. I can't turn down any help at this rate, I don't even have the munitions to arm everyone properly." Benitez stated before seeing a smirk on Danny and Faye's faces. "I missing something here?" Benitez asked in confusion.

"You got an open space with plenty of room?" Danny asked and Benitez raised an eyebrow before he led Danny to the back area that was being used to hold supplies but was very spartan right now.

Danny then pulled one cube out and tapped the button making the various guns, grenades, ammo and equipment boxes, body armor, sandbags, mobile covers, and other supplies for the Security Wing come out while Val and Benitez just looked on in shock.

"That's just one cube, I also have one full of food, blankets, pillows, clothes, and other supplies including electronics such as computers, cameras, phones, monitors, tablets, and more as well as one with medical supplies too." Danny stated breaking the two from their shock.

"Never thought I'd say this, but I'm really starting to thank God you feds got here when you did. We can easily get a situation room set up to coordinate operations all cross midtown and with the ammunitions you brought plus some of the extra help from those people you've been sending here, we can get a shooting range set up to train any new recruits faster and get fully stocked and protected guard posts and patrols around the base going. Make it that much harder for the assholes to hit in the future." Benitez stated already finding their odds ratcheting up with this.

"Good, we'll keep grabbing any and all supplies we find and bring them back here to be distributed as needed." Danny stated before he gave Faye a cube, "Go give Kandal her presents, I'll unload the other two we got so far." Danny instructed, making her nod as she walked off while Benitez led him to where he could unload everything showing stacks of food, flower, sugar, coffee, blankets, clothes, and various tech supplies and tools.

"Anything that can't fit in there?" Benitez asked curiously knowing that that thing could help them a fuck ton.

"Anything the size of a car or bigger, beyond that we're golden." Danny stated making him nod.

"How many of those you got? It would sure as shit make transporting cargo easier for our resupplies." Benitez asked and Danny hummed.

"Just the five at the moment, but when I contact my friends, I can ask for a couple others to be brought. These are fairly new and haven't even been handed out as general equipment yet." Danny stated as Benitez nodded.

"Hey, I'll take what I can get." He stated knowing that anything was better than nothing right now. "Also, be on the lookout for more supplies. We've been hit hard so we need to rebuild the armory, barracks, and supply lines. I'd also like to get a gunsmith set up to give us more to work with for our weapons. Then there's also planning out for eventual excursions to the Dark Zone to really see what the fuck happened there. Of course, there's also training procurement teams and canine units to help search the city and find any resources that may be waiting to be collected. All of that is gonna take time and effort on all of our parts, but getting everything up and running is gonna make shit go a lot smoother than it has been." Benitez stated as Danny nodded knowing that while they got shit to start with, it was still a LONG way off from being what they needed to get the city back under control.

Faye then came back and gave Danny the cube before they both restocked on ammo. "All right, Rhodes' last known was a subway extension, right?" Danny asked getting nods before they were interrupted.

"ALERT: Radio Transmission acquired." ISAC stated before the radio chatter came.

[Jesus H. Christ. I want to give a big 'FUCK YOU' to whoever sent me to this place – it's knee deep in dead bodies, which means it's crawling with Cleaners like flies on a fresh load of shit. If I can keep myself from getting fried, I MIGHT be able to get the power going, but that's a big if. If anyone competent is hearing this, it would sure be swell to get some fucking help down here.] A clearly irritated male voice stated.

"Guess Rhodes is still alive after all." Val stated confirming for everyone that it was indeed Paul Rhodes on the call.

"Looks like, ISAC has triangulated the signal. Faye and I will head out and secure him. Then we can get into details about what the fuck else needs to get done before things get even worse." Danny stated making the others nod as the two headed out.

Just as the passed the Garden on West 31st Street but before they reached 7th Avenue, they found another data file. ISAC accessed it and showed it was titled Plans: [So what are you gonna do? When this is all over, I mean.] A male stated, clearly a rioter.

[Oh, I'm gonna get me a sweet ride and just roll west. And when I get to Cali, I'm gonna find me a nice piece of ass and show him how we do it, East Coast Style.] A female responded with glee.

[Oh, man. You could totally do that. Or that chick from the movie, the one with cars.] The male replied laughing.

[Oh yeah. He'd appreciate a fine car and the fine lady driving it. I'd just roll up, like, yo, baby. I'll take you places.] The female responded sounding excited.

[Man, that's sweet... Me, I just want steak.] The male stated relaxed.

[That's all you got? All the dreams in the world and all you got is steak?] The female asked incredulously.

[...I like steak.] The male replied and Danny and Faye could picture him shrugging.

"Always nice to have dreams and goals, right?" Danny asked rhetorically as they kept moving.

[Okay agents, a top priority is getting power restored and keep it flowing. The best bet for a secure source is a line running under the unfinished Passway project. A crew under Paul Rhodes, a former combat engineer, went in to secure it but we lost contact with them. Get in there, restore power, and recover Rhodes, in that order. One is important and the other is vital. Be warned that it was being used as a mass grave by CERA, so expect to need your breathing masks due to infection levels being high and no doubt the Cleaners are there in more force than Rhodes suspects. There's likely no chance of not engaging them, and we can't risk the fuckers messing with the power supply, so eliminate upon sight and get us that power.] Snake stated over the comms as they got closer to their destination.

However, Danny had them stop as he heard a beeping noise and looked around before finding a satchel charge in some garbage. Moving back, he shot it causing it to go off and ignite a five-foot radius in fire.

Thankfully, the fire began dying down after a few minutes. "Dammit. Control, be advised the Cleaners are putting makeshift napalm mines out on the street that look like satchel charges. They emit a low beeping noise with a blinking red light, so have all patrols be on the lookout. Good news is that you can set them off with a single shot and the fire only lasts a couple minutes." Danny stated over the comms.

[Great, just what we fucking need. Thanks for the heads up, agent, I'll have all our patrols notified immediately.] Benitez stated before Faye and Danny continued on with their mission.

"Scanning for Auxiliary Power Unit…. Target Acquired. Location: Sublevel 3." ISAC informed as they reached the entrance and immediately found some cleaners.

Six grunts just aimlessly standing around at the entrance area one staircase below them. Danny pulled his rifle and quickly popped two of the ones in the back before Faye used her sidearm to pop the two closest. By the time the two middle ones reacted, Danny and Faye both were trained on them and put them down quickly.

Nodding to each other, they began making their way down the flights of stairs keeping their weapons ready in case of ambush. They did make sure to scavenge the grunts for anything useful, counting the oxygen tanks they wore. Danny found an equipment box left behind, though there was nothing worth adding to either of them within, so he just stored it along with an assortment of tools that were nearby.

Moving on, they were suddenly attacked by a couple rushers, but both were made quick work of with Faye quickly drawing her sidearm and popping one in the head while Danny caught the axe and shoved it back sending the spike into the rusher's head.

After searching the two for anything useful, they continued down the stairs. [Word around here is that Rhodes is essentially a paranoid jackass, but he's got the skills we need and he'll come through for us if it means people get helped. That's all I need to hear.] Snake stated over the comms just to give them what to expect.

"That's an understatement, though to be fair, given the history he has, he may just have the right to be paranoid." Danny stated quietly as they moved quietly and began flanking a group of Cleaners that were nearby.

Faye still had her sidearm out while using a shoulder strap to keep her LMG handy since the latter wasn't good for quick precision targeting. It was more suited for a firefight rather than quick efficient killing.

Having Faye move to be in a prime ambush position, Danny waited a moment before he quickly popped two of the Cleaners in the head before the rest dove for cover. However, their cover didn't protect them from Faye, who quickly popped another two in the head before she had to duck as one unleashed his flamethrower in her direction.

The other tried to get a bead on Danny, only to have his brains blown out as he had moved while they focused on Faye. The last one tied to run for it only to get a bullet to the back of the leg and then one put through his head for his trouble.

Looking over to Faye, Danny saw her give a nod to indicate she was all right and the two quickly scavenged the corpses while also grabbing nearby tools as well.

Moving down, they found an ammo crate and quickly restocked themselves before storing it and moving further in.

Faye coughed a bit as the air began to fill with the smell of burning flesh and smoke and both guessed they were nearing where the Cleaners were starting their purge. Rounding a corner, they came to an open area, no doubt to get some of the bodies in easier and found a massive bonfire of corpses going while four grunts, two grenadiers, and four rushers were standing around, no doubt to ensure the fire kept burning.

Danny quickly switched to his G-36 and took out the grenadiers while Faye mowed down the rushers with her LMG. The grunts quickly took cover, but all they really had were some wooden crates, even then they weren't ducking low enough and were quickly picked off with headshots.

"Oh my god. I knew it was bad, but not this." Faye stated seeing the burning pile of literally hundreds if not thousands of corpses going.

"This isn't even the tip of the iceberg, there's hundreds of dead in the streets, and I'm willing to bet the morgue only gets bigger the deeper we go. CERA likely was only tossing the civilian casualties in here for a time, there's still the military, volunteer, and personnel bodies to take into account." Danny stated knowing this was bad, but it wasn't everything.

There was also the unspoken bit that they didn't know how many "loads" the Cleaners had burned. There was enough ash down there that they could have burned hundreds of others already before doing this batch of them.

"Jesus." Faye muttered before shaking her head and straightening herself.

Danny nodded and moved towards a tunnel that had a partial cave in letting them descend to a lower level easier.

[You're currently in what was a planned expansion of the subway system. Outbreak stopped it in its tracks, but not like New York construction didn't run on its' own schedule anyway.] Snake informed as they moved towards a service tunnel to further advance.

However, they quickly donned their masks as there was a large fan blowing both heat and air born viral particles towards them and didn't want to risk infection.

Arriving at the end of the tunnel, Faye gasped in shock and horror as the entire tunnel opening's floor was covered in body bags with there being at least two mounds of piled corpses. Danny sighed and did the sign of the cross before patting Faye on the shoulder and pushing on as ISAC indicated that the relay was just ahead.

Danny quickly looked over the relay and surrounding equipment to be on the safe side and checked the fuses to ensure that nothing was dead or gonna blow when he hit the power. Pulling the switch, he watched as the lights came on and one of the transformers began arcing electricity to itself before the blast door nearby opened just as Faye came in having managed to collect herself.

[Whoever turned the fucking lights on, you're either JTF or you're really fucking lost. Either way, thanks.] Rhodes' voice came over the comms.

[This is Agent Snake with the Division, we got help coming Rhodes, just tell us what you need done for this.] Snake spoke as ISAC patched them to Rhodes' comm channel.

[Then head for the secondary relay room, when you find the room full of dead bodies, you'll know you're going the right way and you're gonna wanna mask up quickly… otherwise, you're dead.] Rhodes stated as Danny shook his head before he and Faye continued on.

Moving back into the tunnel, they saw the lights come on and illuminate the rows of bodies as well as one of the pits they were tossing them in. "They just started throwing them in, like trash." Faye stated with disapproval clearly in her voice.

"Too many bodies, not enough time, and not enough ground to bury them. Can't ship them out of the city while the infection is still in them, so no choice but to basically bury them and eventually remove them entirely. Can't risk a plague from the decay and death sitting around and can't risk the virus possibly mutating further. Sadly, the Cleaners have the right idea for places like this. Gotta burn out the dead and ensure the living don't suffer from it." Danny stated as Faye sighed knowing he was right.

There was no way any of these bodies would be identified, let alone be made safe for transport out of the quarantine to be buried in a cemetery properly. Hell, even giving the ashes after a cremation could still be risky.

These people were just gonna be burned and written up as casualties, with their families having to accept that they'd have to bury an empty casket if they held a funeral service.

Didn't mean she had to like it though.

Crossing the tunnel, they came to the second main relay room and found more Cleaners. This time there were six grunts and three grenadiers. Danny motioned Faye to go up a ladder to the second floor while he stayed on the first.

Once she was in position, he quickly popped three of the grunts causing panic amongst the others as they took cover. However, the ones on the second floor were unprepared for Faye to be there and to quickly dispatch the grenadiers and one of the grunts. The other two grunts took cover behind a pair of pillars and began blind firing at them.

However, Danny shot one of the circuit boxes near them causing it to short out and release some electricity that struck the two causing them to stumble and scream before a pair of bullets put them down for good.

Faye nodded to Danny and began scavenging whatever was usable while Danny moved to the second relay and began checking it over before throwing the switch on it.

[Shit, good thing you're here, this jobs gonna need more hands than I got. You can follow basic instructions, right?] Rhodes asked over the comms.

[We got this, Rhodes, just tell us what you need done.] Snake answered and Danny could tell his friend was getting annoyed with Rhodes already.

[Good, I need some relay boxes swapped out or in, whichever is the case at the moment for the other two.] Rhodes stated in what was essentially a 'I'll take your word for it, but I don't have much faith' tone.

Danny merely shook his head and gathered what Faye found, along with another ammo box, and moved through the next security door.

Unfortunately, it led them to another tunnel that had stacks and stacks of sealed crates, but these weren't supplies.

No, the fact that some had U.S. Flags draped over them told the two all they needed to know.

These weren't crates, they were caskets and coffins.

Those that didn't die from the disease were crated, sealed, and sent here to sit until it could be safe to ship them off. Only, the infection was in the air due to the fans blowing everything around in the tunnels so now even the crates were contaminated, meaning that these people weren't going to get the funeral and honors they deserved.

Patting Faye's shoulder, Danny urged her forward to the next main generator room. Within, they found four rushers and four grunts on the opposite end from them.

Danny had Faye flank them to the left down a narrow hallway while he went across a catwalk that was over the generators, the guardrails and panels giving him cover to stay out of sight.

Once both were in position, they quickly hit the cleaners with a pincer movement. Danny took out the rushers while Faye took out the grunts.

After collecting anything usable, they moved down the stairs to the next floor where a circuit box had been removed from the relay. Danny quickly pulled the switch on the relay, not wanting to be electrocuted when he put the box back in, and grabbed the box before placing it back into its place and ensuring it was fully connected.

Throwing the switch, Danny saw the lights come on as the generators powered up and began sparking electricity to each other. [Son of a bitch, it's working wonderfully, one more of those and we should be in business.] Rhodes commented just before Danny and Faye were alerted by ISAC to incoming hostiles.

From the left side, four grunts and four rushers came out while the opposite side of them had six grunts and two rushers coming.

Faye quickly mowed down the group opposite, luckily missing the generators as there was a large space between them, while Danny quickly removed the ones on the left through use of his G-36 and another circuit breaker to stop them long enough to deal with.

After doing their usual, the two moved in and found another ammo box and stored it before continuing on. [Oh yeah, that shooting… that was you, right? I think someone might have heard you.] Rhodes warned indicating more Cleaners ahead of them.

Coming out, they found they were on a catwalk in the middle of the corpse room they were in before and both took cover as a group of 10 grunts and two rushers were moving about. Danny quickly took position and began popping them with headshots.

Faye, meanwhile, moved down to the floor and waited. As soon as the rushers came near her, she came up with her shotgun and blew them away before firing on the grunts that were nearby.

Once the area was clear, they moved on, though Danny could feel that Faye was annoyed and still a bit distressed by the sight of the caskets. No doubt it was in part to the fact that the people within were essentially reduced to serial numbers that were on the caskets, no names, just numbers.

People reduced to cargo, stock, and items to be shipped and moved as needed.

It was sad, but necessary for the greater good. While Danny had been upset at Camp Hudson, that was more because just leaving them out in the open like that was just cruel and wrong, especially when it was in full view of the civilian processing point.

People lining up, hoping to have a chance at safety and maybe getting out, only to stare at the mass grave that was left unfinished, like the people who died didn't matter. That they were just so much trash to be tossed away.

The civilians wouldn't want to take risks or really trust the JTF upon seeing that, since that could easily become them at some point. They could be helpful and support people, but as soon as they died, they were just more trash for the pile.

It was no wonder the JTF couldn't get much help from the current population with actions like that.

Shaking those thoughts away, he kept moving before he and Faye had to take cover as a group of five grunts and two grenadiers attacked them. The grunts were on the ground giving suppressive fire while the grenadiers were on a catwalk above, no doubt to help them get the grenades on their location.

Unfortunately, for them, Danny always had a plan.

Reaching into one of his pouches, he pulled a device out that was a bit bigger than the size of a tablet or iPad and tossed it forward where it landed on the ground to the side of the grunts. The Cleaners looked at it a moment before shaking their heads and turned their attention back to Danny and Faye.

However, they paused as the sound of mechanical parts moving was heard and looked only to widen their eyes as the object had unfolded itself into miniature turret. Before they could react, the turret whipped in their direction and started spraying them with bullets.

Danny took that opportunity to shoot the grenadiers, whether in the foot or arm, and quickly popped them in the head right afterwards while the turret finished off the grunts.

The turret finished firing once the last grunt fell to the floor before it sparked and exploded slightly rendering it useless.

Nodding to Faye, Danny quickly scaled the catwalk and looted the grenadiers before coming back down and going with her to the next room where ISAC read that the air levels were safe to remove their masks.

Said room was the next relay substation and Faye pulled her shotgun up as Danny had to carry another circuit box up to the next floor. He still had his sidearm handy, but still it was better to have something ready. As they moved, Faye whipped her gun to the left and took out a trio of grunts that came through the access doors before Danny quickly pulled a pair of headshots another two that came from the far end.

As they got to the stairs, Faye dealt with a trio of rushers that came from a back room as Danny reconnected the box to the relay.

[All right, hope you're not scared of the dark, I need you in the control area to wrap this up, meaning I need you to cover my ass while I make sure nobody can fuck with this when I'm done. The sooner we can get out of this fucking crypt, the better.] Rhodes stated as the power turned off before coming back on and humming perfectly.

However, Danny and Faye hung back a minute to scavenge as there were tools, several yards of electrical cable, and a LOT of Cleaner supplies including oxygen tanks, riot shields, fire suits, gas masks, gasoline tanks, and a couple boxes of ammo.

Once it was all stored away, they followed the signs to substation control.

[Hey there. One sec.] Rhodes stated upon seeing them before speaking into a mic, "Testing. Testing. Jesus this think is fucking loud. Time to work in the control room now. Anyway, hope you can stand the dark a bit, cause it's gonna get real dark real fast. I gotta reset everything to get the power going where we want it." Rhodes stated before really looking at them, "Wait a minute, is that you, Corvus?! Fuck me, this shit must be bad if you're fucking here. Goddammit all, why else would they send the fucking Grim Reaper in?!" He continued upon seeing Danny making Faye look at him. "Fuck it, we can worry about that shit later. Damn, they really went top of the line with these substations and generators. They built this shit to last, guess Sandy taught someone in procurement a lesson and didn't want to learn it again. These suckers could still be going if the whole island was nuked. Makes them a bitch to retool, but maybe we'll get lucky." Rhodes continued as he kept working.

"Quit hamming it up, Rhodes, longer you're in there the longer we risk the Cleaners getting reinforcements here." Danny stated making Rhodes scoff.

"Right, right, I'm going, just give a minute." Rhodes stated as the lights went dark and the humming of machines silenced.

Moments ticked by and all three could easily agree the place really felt like a crypt now with it being dark and so silent.

Thankfully, that ended as the reboot finished and everything came back up, counting the lights. "Voila, it's alive." Rhodes stated before looking at the cameras. "Shit, you got incoming from the southern doors, guess you weren't so thorough in wiping out the Cleaners as you thought." Rhodes stated as Danny and Faye readied themselves by moving to a catwalk just above the doors.

A group of 12 Cleaners; 6 grunts, 2 grenadiers, and 4 rushers; came in through the doors and Danny and Faye stayed hidden and waited.

Once they were fully in the room, Danny and Faye sprung up and quickly delivered headshots to each of them in rapid succession, starting with the grunts and grenadiers and then on the rushers.

Poor assholes never stood a chance in hell.

"More coming from the east doors." Rhodes shouted as he saw the cameras and kept working on finishing his part of the job.

Danny reloaded his G-36 as he fired his remaining Sticky Bomb at the wall next to the doorway in question and waited. Once the doors opened and the Cleaners rushed out, Danny detonated the bomb consuming them in the explosion as their tanks and grenades exploded as well.

"Christ, more from the northern doors. How many of these fuckers are there?!" Rhodes exclaimed as he didn't see why there would be so many for here alone.

Danny and Faye both turned their attention to the doors, with Faye using her LMG, and as soon as they opened, they opened fire shredding the enemies before they could even try anything.

"Uh, tell me that's more of you guys in the elevator." Rhodes stated as the freight elevators started coming down.

"We could, but we'd be lying to you." Danny stated as Rhodes snorted.

"Great, then it's the Cleaners. Just kill them quickly before they end up damaging my machines, we're almost golden." Rhodes stated as he kept monitoring the progress of the reboot and reroute while also eying the cameras in case of any others coming.

Faye and Danny got ready as the elevators opened and three rushers, two grunts, and a big man carrying an assortment of bags and tanks and a massive flame thrower walked off the elevator.

"Identifying Target. Subject identified as Marcus Benchley, wanted in the attack on the processing center at Camp Hudson, burning of several research areas, and for the murders of several JTF, Civilians, and researchers. Scanning… Target has several tanks of volatile chemicals. Suggested action: induce force to cause combustion and explosion." ISAC stated as Faye and Danny both smirked and nodded to each other before they both fired on the tanks he had on him.

The tanks quickly grew unstable and exploded, triggering the others he had on him as well, taking Benchley and his goons with him. "Whoa! Careful doing that, any closer and you could have fried my controls and this shit would be even harder to finish." Rhodes stated as he typed a bit more. "Aaaaaaaand done! Flow is looking good, and we got enough juice to turn this place into Vegas if we wanted. I'll lock up the controls and the entry points so no one can come in and fuck with what I did. The fires should all be isolated enough that we don't have to worry about harming the circuits and flow, but I'm still gonna lock down the doors and such just to help ensure that possibility. You two can't help me with that, so take the elevator top side and I'll follow once I finish." He continued making the two nod once they scavenged from the cleaners that were still intact and/or not burned.

"See you back at base." Danny called as they got on the elevator and Rhodes gave a two-finger salute before the elevator closed and began going up.

"Seems you left an impression on him from your last encounter." Faye stated and Danny shrugged.

"Apparently, he's still a bit annoying and dramatic though." Danny stated making her smirk as the elevator kept climbing.

Getting off the elevator, the two came out at street level within Penn Plaza finding that the sun had set before their comms came on, [Agents, we got a report of a hostage situation north of your position at a bank on West 32nd Street. Check it out, though be careful as there's reports of Cleaners in the area. Also, don't worry, Rhodes is already in transit back to base, so no reason to provide him an escort.] Snake stated and they gave confirmation before moving out.

Arriving, they found 10 grunt Cleaners guarding the area and they were made quick work of as they were literally standing out in the street not paying attention. Once they scavenged from the new corpses, they entered the bank, though both Danny and Faye were confused on why there was a laundromat in the back of a bank, and found the key before letting the hostages out.

After they scavenged the area, they led the hostages back to the Base, collecting some more people along the way through helping them or saving them from some isolated incidents. Upon returning to base, they immediately had them sent off to be checked out by Kandal while they went to speak to Rhodes with Snake joining them.

They walked up to the Tech Wing and found Rhodes hunched over organizing some folders while he had several monitors at his workstation to monitor various areas. Turning around, he smirked slightly, "Corvus, nice to see you again." Rhodes stated as he shook Danny's hand.

"Rhodes, nice to see you've not changed since leaving the private sector." Danny stated as Rhodes shrugged. "This is my partner Agent Lau and this is Agent Snake, he'll be coordinating us with anything you or the other two need done." Danny introduced making him nod.

"Right, well thanks for saving my sorry ass, though I know you want more from me than just that warm fuzzies for that shit. Like getting this shithole up to par." He stated as he looked over the monitors and laptop he had. "Typical government standard I see. Nice to see they still keep the bar low enough that even roaches can walk right over it. Always go private if you want quality, learned that in Basra." He stated with annoyance as he moved and grabbed a checklist off a nearby shelf. "But yeah, city can't run on farts and well wishes. Power, water, heating, all the bells and whistles need to be taken care of. Not that you're the first bunch to try it." Rhodes stated as he looked at Danny.

"Yeah, first wave is either KIA or MIA. We found one of their Division Watches in a sewer leading to one of the main water control rooms." Danny stated and Rhodes nodded.

"Yeah, heard a bunch of your crew went missing when shit really hit the fan. Got a few theories on that myself, as I'm sure you do too since you were never one to leave things unsolved or alone if necessary. Anyway, my point is when you're out there cleaning up and hooking up the city one district at a time, poke around a bit, see what you can find out. Maybe the virus got 'em. Maybe the brutes got 'em. Shit, maybe the city opened up its rotten core and just swallowed 'em whole. I'd actually believe that, it's happened before. Fucking city got my wife. Miracle I'm still here long as I have been, really." Rhodes stated as he sighed.

"I'm sorry, Paul, I didn't hear that Megan had passed." Danny stated as Rhodes sighed.

"Yeah, fucking poison took her first week. You know, they say a pessimist is a disillusioned romantic. Well, whoever said that's a fucking asshole." Rhodes sighed before standing up, "There's reports of recon drones that got shot down, grabbing their black boxes could give us some intel. There's also any of those watches and echoes that your guys can leave behind. Then there's also different situation reports that were left behind as different lines had to fall back. Anything else, well, take it if it could be useful since intel is intel no matter what." Rhodes stated as he put the clipboard down.

"We got a couple of those, I'll have ISAC upload any data right to your system." Danny stated making Rhodes nod. "Did Benitez tell you we got a large assortment of electronics we've picked up along the way? Also, we have a shipment drop that's all electronics as well." Danny stated as Rhodes paused and looked at him.

"That would be really fucking useful to have, wish someone had goddamn told me this shit. Show me." Rhodes stated as Danny nodded and led him to the supplies area showing the parts, computers, monitors, TVs, phones, cables, and more. Danny then moved to several crates and pried them open showing more tech before also unloading everything they had taken so far besides the medical supplies.

"Well fuck me, this is actually some quality shit. We can get a real Control Room up and running to monitor all the important shit like heating, water, and power plus we should be able to get SatComms back up with this let us get communication out wherever we need." Rhodes stated as Danny nodded.

"Good, we need communications kept open, and once you've got a stable line set up, I need to reach out to some friends of mine. Both to get some more manpower and to get some supplies brought in." Danny stated since if communications were really that bad then he'd have to be on the lookout to repair more of them and getting parts.

"Shit, you calling in some of those guys? Damn, shit must be worse than I thought, but I'll get the SatComms up first so you can get your messages out, if there's competent people here I can get them up in a few hours, if not then I'll need at least a day or two. Anyway, do what you want but we can use more heavy machinery too. We need to retool our communication infrastructure and get competent people manning it. We need generators, water purification systems, central heating repairs and setup, recharge centers for batteries and electronics, workstations to alter and adjust gear and mechanics, and then there's getting a data uplink to your SHADE systems and having people handling that while doing in-depth looking into your other agents. All of that is gonna take more tech and manpower, so don't skip over anything if you can help it." Rhodes listed making them nod.

"We'll grab all that we can while sending people here as we can. You may have to either teach or have some people teach them how to get shit running around here at least until I can g eat you some real support." Danny stated as Rhodes nodded with a sigh.

"Yeah, merry fucking Christmas to us all." He stated before walking off to find anyone with competent electrical or engineering background to help him get shit together.

Shaking his head at Rhodes, Danny then went to the medical wing and delivered more supplies. "Hey, glad to see more supplies being brought in, and some of those hostages you saved are actually licensed therapists, which is great. We need to treat both the physical and mental wounds of this shit show, and this is a good start." Kandal stated as she was typing away on a computer and frowning as she did.

"Results not what you were expecting?" Danny asked and Kandal sighed.

"I'm not sure, more data comes in and we still keep seeing that second strain and it's even more elusive than the Green Poison was. It's nowhere near as potent or deadly, but still it does have concerns rising on if it's something else released or if the Green Poison mutated and became something new." Kandal stated as Danny turned the monitor to look at the data she was researching on the two strains.

He analyzed every bit of both and frowned heavily, he immediately recognized some of it and that… that put him on edge immediately. "I know some of this, but I'll need to get into contact with a couple friends of mine to be sure. The last thing I want to do is send you off in the wrong direction to investigate and waste time, resources, and possible lives looking into what is not an issue." Danny stated as Kandal frowned wondering what he saw since she assumed he was another tech or military type, not a doctor.

"All right, but the sooner you can get me the info the better. I can treat things as they are, but having more info can improve what I'm doing here." Kandal stated and Danny nodded.

"I plan to, unfortunately it may be a day or so, Rhodes is working to get our SatComms back up and running so we have more easily available communications. Once that's done, I can get messages out both for that info and to get some help in some different areas as well as supplies from some contacts of mine. We need all the help we can get right now." Danny stated as Kandal nodded.

"Right, just do what you can as quick as you can. Time's not our friend unfortunately." Kandal stated as Danny nodded before he walked off.

He found Faye talking with Snake and both turned to him as he approached, "Both of you have done good, for now get some shut eye. It's gonna be a long while here, best to get rest when you can. I'll make it an order if I have to." Snake stated when it looked like they were going to protest and both sighed and nodded. "Good, I've arranged two of the offices here to be converted into rooms for you two. It's not much, but it's better than nothing and it will give you two some privacy when needed." Snake stated as they nodded before heading off and finding the two offices.

"See you in a few hours." Faye stated as Danny nodded and both entered their makeshift rooms.

Faye found a desk, cot, sink, and a chair and table to somewhat relax in. Sighing, Faye stripped her gear off and laid it out on the table before she sat on the chair and began cleaning and checking over it all.

As she worked, her mind drifted to Danny, aka Wraith, and thought on all she knew about him plus the stories going around within the Division about him. He was the youngest person to ever be admitted to the Division and quickly rose to a high-grade position, evidenced to her by the fact his SHADE tech was more advanced/upgraded than hers, though everyone knew it wasn't as high as a commander. There were also rumors that he had been deployed and seen action even without Order 51 being issued, though it didn't make much sense to her that he was since Division Agents weren't supposed to be activated unless that order was given.

Plus, it seemed he had a history with a few people here and his combat skills easily dwarfed hers by a large margin.

He was a puzzle and she always liked solving puzzles, though something told her he wasn't going to be so simple to figure out. She'd do it carefully, last thing she wanted was to alienate him while they had such a huge problem going on.

Meanwhile, Danny was doing similar busy work while also frowning at how things had gone so far. They were only just getting started and he already needed more equipment and gear. He'd add it to his list for his allies when he was able to contact them.

There was also the fact that his… performance wasn't as good as he thought it would be. No doubt Snake would notice and question him on it and he'd have to admit some things. He couldn't lie to the old man, not after all they'd been through.

For now, he'd "relax" and keep his mind busy until he could go out into the field again.

DONE. With that the Base of Operations is running again, not at 100%, but it's on its way.

DANNY'S CURRENT GEAR (identified/confirmed):

Primary Weapon: Military SCAR-H with a 552 Holosight, extended magazine (adds 3 bullets meaning Danny has 18 rounds before he must reload), a Handstop, and an Omega Rifle Suppressor.

Secondary: Military G36 that has a bronze colored ACOG Scope (4X), Extended Magazine (gives Danny an additional 7 bullets bringing his count to 37), a handstop, and an Omega rifle Suppressor.

Sidearm: Px4 Storm Type F with a Ti-RANT Suppressor and comes with a 17 round clip.

Chest: Laminate Vest

Backpack: National Guard Backpack

Mask: Preparedness Mask

Gloves: Heavy Duty Gloves

Sidearm Holster: Hunting Holster

Knee's: Heavy Duty Pads

FAYE'S CURRENT GEAR (identified/confirmed):

Primary Weapon: M249 B LMG with a T2 Micro red dot sight, Extended Magazine (gives her 22 more rounds bringing it to 122 before she had to swap belts/boxes), and a Coyote Tan vertical grip.

Secondary Weapon: Super 90 shotgun with a coyote tan vertical grip, Heavy magazine spring, and a C79 scope with a 3.4x zoom.

Sidearm: Colt 1911 with a Ti-RANT Suppressor and comes with a 12 round magazine.

Chest: Laminate Vest

Knee's: Heavy Duty Pads

New Enemies: CAPTAINS: They have better armor than Lieutenants, they are very agile, and they are not shy about attacking you head on to force you out of cover or give their allies a chance to kill you. They also have grenades and will gladly use them even if they are in the blast zone. They do not take cover unless they've taken a few hits, but then they go right back to attacking once they've been in cover a minute.

Next time Danny's going to contact his allies, they plan to begin taking the districts back, and things get a bit more personal for Faye!

Also, just a mention for those who don't know the building that is the Base of Operations, it is the James A. Farley Building. For those who only know the base in game, the game version is SMALLER than what it actually is, or at least what's shown since according to the New York City Department of City Planning, it has a lot area of 364,000 square feet and a gross floor area of 1,378,125 square feet, so it is pretty big. So, if you see all the stuff they want to add and Benitez' comments on barely having enough people to guard it, you can understand why since there's plenty of space.

Oh, just a reminder, but things will get harder for Faye and Danny as we go. The Subway Morgue seemed easy because it really is that easy. I played through it quite a few times, and my piece of shit rifle one-shotted all but two enemies when I shot their heads. Even on harder difficulties, it only took two headshots to put them down except for one enemy. Plus, when you're ambushing the enemy vs having open combat or getting ambushed, you can clear them out fairly quickly if you know what you're doing.

For those wondering why Danny's Division tech seems better than Faye's, that's due to him being more senior than her and having time, experience, and skills necessary to have upgraded gear and tech to use. Hence why Danny can use his Pulse more often than she can and why his Sticky Bombs and Mines work better than hers. Said upgrades are canon as they are upgrades the player can unlock through missions and upgrading the base. Remember that Faye has never been deployed before while Danny already has a reputation and following within the Division for being an elite and effective soldier.

Special thanks to my Patrons: Andrew Stephens, Shadow9Fox, Janus Christoffer Sønderskov, Patrick Ferro, Smilix, Dylan Page, William Skondras,Tom Khoury, Joseph, Matthew Anderson, Jason Anderson, Razor McCutchn, Hert Fanfiction, Kelly Payeur, Rich Didcott, Matthew Jackson, Joeri Lissens, Cory Toler, Aysha, Justin Bridge, Knight, Ellis, dragonkw213, and TheDarkKnightq. Thank you all for your continued support.

See you all next time!