Author's Note:
I'm rewriting this story with a crossover from the John Wick movie franchise as (at least in my head) it seemed that the lore for these 2 universes could go well together. I know some of you are still waiting for me to update my SWTOR story. I definitely will when I have the time.
I'll be honest here: I hate Faye Lau's face. Call me whatever you want but she looks too butch for me. Even the Adjudicator from John Wick 2 looked for feminine despite the buzz cut.
For the benefit of everyone, I'm simply going to assume Faye Lau looks exactly like her Voice Actress Melissa O'Neil with the long hair bunned up military style and all. She looks better that way in my head.
Most of the story is going to follow The Division 1 Campaign in terms of major events. However the storyline wll be peppered and meshed with elements of the John Wick universe to add some sense of mystery. Some lore will be changed as well, but I won't spoil anything until I get far enough ahead with the story.
Enjoy the rewrite folks!
0800, November 29th, 2030
62 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights
New York City
Eric's eyes snapped open, the digital pings sounding off from his smartwatch woke him up instantaneously from his slumber.
He'd always been a light sleeper anyway. More specifically, he had been trained to be one.
He knew what the pings meant: Things were bad. Really bad. The expectation that one day he would hear the familiar sound kept him from ever sleeping peacefully; against the ongoing and ever deepening chaos and violence outside his Brooklyn apartment notwithstanding.
Part of him just wanted to just close his eyes and just hope it would disappear, like it was all some horrendous dream. The other parts however, were urging him to press the button.
It would be so easy to just... ignore it. Going by the news reports all around the country as well as the rapidly deteriorating situation outside, the feds were losing their grip over keeping society from degrading into a wholesale dog-eat-dog world.
Then again if he ignored it, the so-called Intelligent System Analytic Computer or ISAC for short would register his non-response and consider him nothing short of a traitor. At least that's what their SHD trainers told them.
He couldn't just stand by and see it all go to hell, though. Granted, he wasn't a patriot by any means. But always made it a habit to do good if he could help it.
Now there was the opportunity to do more. But at the potential cost of his life.
Knowing that he would regret it for the rest of his life whether he pressed that blinking orange button on his smartwatch or not, he got himself off the bed and put on his ScanTek augmented reality contact lenses and wireless earpieces. He took a deep breath, then pressed the button.
Instead of exploding and killing him, thus saving himself the hassle of going through whatever crap he would have been expected to do, something akin to an orange holographic wave pulsed from person and spread throughout the entire room. Bits of lines and digital confetti sprung from thin air and covered any and every object in the room like as if it was scanning them all.
"Intelligent System Analytic Computer active. Connecting to National Shade Network. Please standby." A digitized male voice sounded off.
Eric let out a breath of relief at the familiar voice. At least it was working. The training program of the Strategic Homeland Division, or SHD or The Division for short, had prepared agents like him on how to operate the system. Back then, the trainers told them it was still in Beta testing. Now, he was kind of eager to see the full version in action. Not because he loved tech in general, but because what it could do would probably be instrumental in keeping himself alive in the coming weeks.
Whether that was good or bad thing, he wasn't sure if he was being honest with himself. He didn't want to die, but then again living in this shitstorm wasn't actually much better either.
"National Shade Network offline. Unable to connect. Switching to Local Area Data Node."
"Well, shit." Eric cursed. The Shade Network was supposed to be active and broadcasting country-wide via satellite; its operating servers based somewhere in Washington DC. If it wasn't operating then it meant shit had really hit the fan.
For all intents and purposes, he and any remaining agents in New York city were now left without any sort of support and direction from their Headquarters. Then again, this scenario was exactly what they had been briefed and trained for just in case.
In short, they would have to wing it until they could somehow get in touch with the White House.
"New York City Shade data node connection successful. Diagnostics complete. ISAC is now online. Welcome Agent Eric Lee. Playing activation briefing." The voice announced.
"Out of the frying pan, into the fire." He mumbled. It was do or die now. Nothing could change that.
The briefing started and a whole list of accompanying pictures and snippets of news reports appeared in mid-air in front of me. No matter how many times he practiced using the AR contacts, the 3D holographic technology still amazed him. It surpassed anything in the civilian market! If the private sector had gotten a hold of this technology, everyone would have had a field day.
"This is an emergency pre-recorded transmission to all Division agents receiving this message. The 'Green Poison' or 'Dollar Flu' pandemic has reached critical levels. As far as we know, your area's federal and state departments and agencies save for a few have collapsed. Thus, the reason you are now receiving this message. Therefore, on my authority as the President of the United States of America, Executive order 51, you are now activated and considered a Federal agent working under the Strategic Homeland Division."
The voice and visage was unmistakably the President's. He kind of empathised with him, because it was his last term and now he had to deal with all this crap before stepping down. Not that he was a liberal or a conservative by any means, he didn't care enough to take sides. He just took the ones which were most practical to his own belief system at the time.
"Your first order is to link up and report to your respective section commanders in your city or state to receive further instructions. You have been trained and equipped to handle this type of scenario over the years. Now is the time to use it. Your overall encompassing objective is to restore order and rebuild society on together and on behalf of the government by any means necessary."
"Your authority and security clearance has henceforth been upgraded and now supersedes any other state or federal operative, agent and-or employee in the field. Before moving out, make sure you have your standard issue weapons and equipment that was handed out to you before your inactivation. Upon the ending of this transmission, your profile will be activated and the RFID GPS tag in your armband patch will broadcast your signal to other agents in the network."
"The citizens of the United States of America are counting on you. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Godspeed agent, and may God have mercy on the United States of America."
As soon as the message ended, Eric stepped on top of his bed and ripped the cheap Van Gogh painting off the wall, revealing a gigantic safe the government had got contractors to install when he had first moved in to his apartment years ago.
Inputting his passcode, the safe unlocked itself and opened to reveal two drawers. Pulling out the top one revealed the familiar black suitcase emblazoned with the SHD logo on the top.
Placing his smartwatch near the centre lock, there was a beep followed by a low whirring before the locks snapped open. He opened the briefcase and began sifting through the Division issued gear.
Sling bag with the ISAC communication relay brick attached to the shoulder strap, check. Beretta M9 pistol with thigh holster, check. MP5-SD with red-dot sight and infrared laser, check. Extra magazines with 9 millimetre ammunition, check. Clear lens ballistic eyewear, check.
Next was the second drawer. Which upon opening revealed what seemed to be... some type of armored body suit?
Suddenly the digital chime sounded off again. This time, a video of what seemed to be a scientist in a lab coat appeared before him.
"Congratulations agent. You are one of the chosen few to be provided with this experimental equipment that even your fellow comrades do not have access to. Please note that an extensive an exhaustive review was undertaken before making this decision to assign it to you prior to your inactivation. We trust that you will put them to good use for the benefit of the people of the United States. ISAC will guide you through its properties and proper usage. Good luck Agent."
As soon as the video cut out, he laid his eyes on the first gun-like equipment on the side and the AR contacts began to work it's magic; visibly scanning and analysing it in various orange-tinted effects.
"Magnetic grapple gun with 350 pound monofilament." ISAC sounded off.
A grapple gun? Eric mused. That was somewhat cool. He could think of multiple uses for it. Next was the suit.
"Mark 5 Survival Suit for Advanced Infantry. Fire-resistant Nomex undersuit with built-in temperature regulators for extreme conditions. Power is provided via nano dynamos that uses the body movements at the joints which are reinforced for maximum flexibility and mobility."
"Hard plates made of Silicon carbide discs with ceramic matrixes accompanied by Kevlar bi-weave laminate soft armor covering chest, calves, thighs, arms, and back. Provides level 3-A protection and Level 2 slash-stab protection."
Holy shit... Now that's some equipment. At least I don't need to worry about the weather. Better cover it up with a parka just in case. He mused.
He hastily put them on as soon as he could on top of his other clothes. It was just after the beginning of winter and snow had started to fall a week ago. Hence, he made sure to wear shades of black, white and grey to blend in with the urban surrounding as best he could. Once he was locked and loaded, he headed for the door. He pulled out my pistol and leaned against the wall right next to the door.
Time to see how good SHADE tech really is. A gloved finger raised up to the upper right button of his watch and pressed down.
In a split second, the familiar orange holographic wave pulsed from his body and flowed over and through the floor, walls and ceiling in search of life signs to mark and highlight. Within seconds, he had a number of marks with directional arrows within his view pointing him towards their locations and general distance above and below him. They were marked white, which meant they were most likely unarmed civilians.
He had to give credit to the software engineers. This stuff was amazing! He could not only see their locations, but also the outlines of them through the solid walls and floors, and what they were doing. A few were still going about their business. Some looked like they were scared shitless, holed up inside their apartments, trying to make a little noise as possible. But for the most part, majority of the apartments were empty. He wished he could have given them some of his emergency ration packs, but the mission came first. He worked his way to the ground floor and switched over to his submachine gun as he neared the entrance to the streets.
"ISAC, scan for contaminants." Eric whispered softly but clearly.
The newly activated agent didn't really know what he was expecting at first when he gave the instruction. According to the SHD eggheads at the time, the final version of ISAC was built upon the idea of combining voice assistants like Siri or Alexa with the power of ChatGPT; Give it the processing power of supercomputers and voila!
Another orange wave pulsed from the agent again. "Scanning... Immediate area is safe." Came the reply.
Eric sighed with relief. This meant he didn't need to waste his mask after all. Taking a deep breath, he turned the handle and opened the door. A blast of cold air greeted the exposed portions of his face as he stepped outside, weapon at the ready in case there was something or someone waiting for him.
Instead of finding a horde of reanimated zombies, which he was fully expecting by the way, he found nothing but empty streets all around him. For some reason he was honestly disappointed, but he had to admit that the sounds of an empty street besides the howl of the wind sent shivers down his spine. It was… disconcerting to say the least. Nevertheless, he had to press on and contact his section commander. He took a hunch and made his way towards the piers.
Walking down the street he kept a look out for any less than friendly individuals. But so far it was nothing but stray dogs and the occasional passer-by who would bolt at the sight of a well-armed person. He wasn't surprised. It wasn't like then-President Bush announced to the public about Directive 51 anyway. Then again, he was pretty sure that there were already some agents activated long before he was. And that the general public were already aware of their existence.
From the radio reports until his activation, it seemed like Brooklyn and the other outlying areas were badly hit but were more or less manageable. People still died though, but at least it was nowhere near the levels of Manhattan. That place was a death-trap and a whole truckload of canned worms. Quarantines, building of some kind of Quarantine Zone to keep out the infection and rumours of the whole place going down like an zombie apocalypse on steroids.
Soon, he made it to the piers without incident. The morning view of Manhattan's skyline was glorious. Melancholy started to set in; him realizing that no one would be enjoying the view because they were scared shitless of the plague. It was tranquil, maybe even nice amidst the chaos. Eric closed my eyes, figured that he'd soak in the atmosphere-"
"INCOMING TRANSMISSION."
"WHAT THE FLYING FUCK!?" Eric jumped behind a low wall for cover before realizing what ISAC said. "Fucking hell ISAC, don't fucking scare me like that!"
"Affirmative. Would you like to reduce the notification volume level?" ISAC replied. Snarky little bastard, he swore he could hear a grin through his digitized voice.
"Stupid little... Just patch it through, ISAC." Eric replied.
"Agent Eric Lee. This is Louis Chang, your Northeast Section commander. Do you read me?" A man's voice crackled through my earpiece.
"Reading you loud and clear Louis." Eric said. "What's the Sitrep?"
"Eager. I like that." Louis chuckled. "I'll be more than willing to brief you on that. But first, you need to get to our safe house and meet up with the rest. I've got your position... it seems you're not far from here. Sending you the coordinates now. See you there."
"Roger that. On my way."
Eric ended the transmission and hid himself behind a dumpster before pressing a button on his smartwatch conveniently labelled 'map'. Instantly, his world darkened, and a virtual 3D map splayed out around and him. It looked like Google maps on steroids but with orange and dark colour schemes. he could see nothing else but the map.
He remembered that back in training, they explained that the map function essentially blinded the agent to the immediate environment. If they were caught by a hostile while focusing too much attention on the map, then they'd be as good as dead. That was why they were taught to hide in a safe space if alone before using it or have a fellow agent designated as navigator while the rest covered him in a team.
He quickly identified myself as the small blue blip on the map as well as an orange blip that was the coordinates of the safehouse. ISAC provided him with the fastest route to the safehouse. Deactivating the map, Eric toggled on the real-time routing system. This materialised an orange line above the air in front of him of which he could follow. In less than ten minutes of light jogging, he entered what looked like a derelict apartment through a broken down main door with a makeshift barricade.
Another flight of stairs brought him to a steel door with a keypad and scanning pad with the familiar orange light. Placing his watch near the receiver brought about an audible click and the door swung open. He stepped inside to see a bespectacled Asian man with spiky grey hair; Louis Chang. Upon hearing his arrival, he gave a warm smile and walked towards him, thrusting out a hand.
"Am I late?" Eric returned the gesture in kind and they grasped each other's forearms.
"No, you're just on time. Nice to see another agent joining us. Not enough of us these days." He replied with a breath of relief.
"Don't tell me we're already in deep?" I looked at him incredulously, I seriously hoped it was not the case. Maybe I was being paranoid or something.
"Direct to the point, aren't you?" He chuckled. "I like it! But to answer your question, no we're not. Well... not yet anyway."
Pulling him away from the entrance, entered what looked like a small bedroom turned into a makeshift situation room where a JTF officer and another agent was present. "Davis, meet your fellow agent Faye Lau. She specialises in Tactical Coordination, intelligence and Strategic management. I've designated her my second-in-command of our team."
"We've got rioters concentrating at these two points here. What do you suggest we do?" Said the officer.
"Put your men here. Station designated marksmen at the upper floors of the apartments so their firing lanes overlap each other. Funnel them into the killing zone then kick their asses." Faye replied without so much as a thought.
"Hmm... Good idea. I'll relay the instructions to them." The officer nodded and stepped away to direct her instructions over the comms.
Said Agent Faye Lau turned to face Eric. As per her name, she was another asian as well. Slightly shorter than he was. But she had her hair tied up in a bun and fastened with a net; army style.
"Hi, Nice to meet you Faye." Eric held out a hand and smiled.
"Same here Eric." She his hand a firm shake. Damn does she have a grip! "I've seen your file; Assault and Recon specialist? Not a lot of agents got that type of combined skill set."
"Well, when you've got a military background the trainers just lump us all into dual combat specialties." Eric explained humorously. "I thought we would be more well-rounded but instead we get doubled down on our area of expertise."
"Ma'am, we've got a situation." The officer called out. Faye dipped her head and sighed. There was no rest for the weary.
"No time to chat I guess. I'll see you in a bit, gotta get back to work." She turned away and got back to her map. Louis and Eric walked out of the room.
"Alright, we better put you to work as well." He stated. "We've got a stash of frag grenades and ammo in the storeroom. Report over to Officer Hazen over at the table next to the billboard. He's our liaison officer for the JTF in this sector. He'll assign you any outstanding tasks the other agents haven't picked up."
"What, I'm getting leftovers?" Eric joked. "What am I? Chopped liver?"
"Just get going agent." He laughed with a friendly slap on my back. "We'll contact you if there's anything urgent."
"Aye, aye commander."
"Oh, one more thing. You'll need this." Three small cylindrical devices were thrust into his palm. Upon closer inspection he realised what they were... or seemed to be.
"Morphine autoinjectors?" Eric questioned.
"No. Even better." Louis leaned a little towards me and lowered his voice. "They're Stimpaks, fresh from the eggheads from the Tech department. They work just like autoinjectors, but they also accelerate your body's healing rate by at least a couple hundred times. Use them only when you're fatally hit and at risk of dying or passing out. The solution inside contains super-stem cells and nanites which will act as a catalyst to rebuild damaged muscle tissue, veins and arteries in a matter of seconds."
"Wow that's incredible. What about bones?"
"Bones are harder to heal so it would take at least a couple of days. But that's already saying something about their efficacy. But it should get you out of a pinch." He suddenly turned grave, like he was unsure of how to describe something to to him. "I know it sounds selfish, but standard protocol is to never use them on anyone else except yourself or your fellow agent. Is that understood?"
So that's what he was worried about. It seemed logical. With the training they went through, one could say that a single agent was worth a squad of riflemen. Two if you added whatever tech they would be receiving.
Eric nodded in understanding. Frankly, he didn't like it. Then again, desperate times called for desperate measures. "Understood. I'll use them wisely."
"I'm sure you will. Get going agent. I'll see you soon."
Eric didn't know it then. But it would be the last time he hear from him ever again.