BTSU Base of Operations
Tidal Basin
One Hour Later…
"Nice work, Agent." A voice says, echoing in the large locker room. I stand in front of the locker designated for me, looking into its tiny mirror as I wring out my ponytail. I turn around to see the field commander Bardon Schaeffer entering the room. "Taking out that JTF guy at the Washington Monument, and a few of his lackeys, to boot." Schaeffer stops next to me, leaning against the wall of lockers and crossing his arms, a move I saw rather frequently in high school. The memory makes me laugh at him inside, but outwardly I return to what I had been doing. "I didn't think you had it in you. Quite impressive."
"I didn't know, either." I say casually, peeling off my soaked hoodie and hanging it up, revealing the simple black crew neck underneath. "Mostly because in the Marines, and the Division, we don't target civilians."
"Yeah, well, you're not with them anymore, despite what your fancy watch and 'tough guy' tats might say." The taller man jabs. "I'm your boss, now. Whether you like it or not. We here in Black Tusk do things differently."
"Define 'differently' for me." Still not looking at him, I pull out the small duffel bag given to me by Dot, whom I sort of wished was here, and look through my 'BTSU issue' clothing to decide what to change into.
"Well, for starters, we don't back down from or fail missions and we don't have personal agendas...as President Ellis laid out for you not to long ago."
I pause for a moment, looking up at him as I take a pair of black cargo pants out of the bag.
"Well then you and I should get along swimmingly." I say, dropping the pants and taking off my equally wet t-shirt. An ordinary person wouldn't strip down to their undies in front of someone they don't know, especially someone of the opposite sex. But military experience, coupled with a healthy dose of 'don't really give a fuck' makes me anything but ordinary. "Except for the civilian killing stuff. That we have to work on."
"Listen here, sweetheart." Schaeffer slams my locker closed right as I'm about to reach into it. "If it were up to me, youd've bled to death in that lab, along with your little lady friend. You should be grateful you're still drawing breath, and that you got this fancy-shmancy piece of plastic." He hits my prosthetic with the back of his hand. Not hard enough to do any damage, but enough to be noticeable. "So if I were you, I'd show the folks around here a little respect, which goes double for me."
I meet his gaze, giving off an unintimidated expression.
"Respect is earned, Mr. Schaeffer." I reply simply. "Not given."
"Oh really?" He angrily takes out his pistol and presses the barrel against my forehead. "How about this, Agent? Does this 'earn your respect'?!"
I cross my eyes to look up at the gun, then back down at him.
"Well, considering that if you pulled that trigger, you likely wouldn't be far behind, not really. I don't have alot of respect for people that stupid."
Schaeffer appears unfazed by my words, his fingers wrapped tightly around his gun, giving him white knuckles.
"So what'll it be, Commander? Shoot me out of spite, or keep your own life?" I ask, before humming the 'Jeopardy' tune. It takes a few seconds before he lowers the gun, which gives me a cocky grin until he twirls the pistol in his hand and cracks me in the temple with the grip. My head hits the lockers, hard, and I fall into a sitting position on the floor, tightly cradling the sides of my head.
"You better square yourself away, Green." Schaeffer growls, stowing his pistol. "Or else things won't end well for you." He turns and walks towards the exit as I lift my throbbing head. "Your debrief is at 1000 tomorrow. Clean yourself up."
"Hey Schaeffer!" I call out, stopping him as he opens the door.
"Robin Williams was wrong," I say with a smirk. "You are in more dire need of a blowjob than any man in history.
The man huffs at me angrily, slamming the locker room door on his way out. I look down at the floor below me, where a puddle of water has formed from my earlier drying attempts.
"That went better than expected." I mutter, my smirk turning into a laugh as I stare at my own reflection.
JTF Base of Operations
Coordinator Office
The next morning…
"Holy shit, Jay." Manny says in disbelief, looking over the stack of papers Sarah gave me. "This is a gold mine!" After a moment of pause, he looks up at me. "Where did you get this?"
"A small Black Tusk outpost we hit on the way to the Washington Monument" I say with a shrug, fighting with myself to cover my urge to yell 'Sarah is alive! She gave me all of it!'. "Does it matter?"
"For the moment? Definitely not. Hey look." He holds up a piece of paper. "Special bulletin to all Black Tusk Agents." Manny reads. "Effective immediately: A truce has been brokered with a few field Agents of the Strategic Homeland Division. Double check your targets when encountering anyone from SHD. Challenge phrase: Icepick. Countersign: Phoenix. Record the Agent's callsign and immediately terminate if theirs isn't recognized." He looks at me hopefully. "Signed: Bardon Schaeffer. Acting Field Commander, BTSU.' Hear that, Jay? Sarah could be alive! In enemy hands, but alive."
'I know! I met with her!' I want to cry out.
"That's fantastic!" I'm cut off by Alani as she enters the room. "They do have her. That right there is proof of it." The ecstatic Agent looks to Manny. "Does that give any specifics on locations?"
"Yes." The coordinator replies, switching to the laptop. "Tidal Basin is their Command Center. Potomac Event Center has been repurposed to a weapons depot, and Roosevelt Island is...or was...a Dollar Flu and DC62 research facility."
"So what about these Rogue Agents?" Alani asks. "Are there more?"
"There must be, if this bulletin is anything to go on."
"Then it's off to the races. What do you think, Jay? Straight for the Tidal Basin?"
I pause for a moment, considering the question. Every part of me wants to say 'Yes!' so I can be reunited with Sarah, but right now, all of this is a ruse. I lied to Manny, and Alani. I still am. They know nothing apart from the possibility of Sarah being alive. I know the whole story, but swore not to tell.
Pinky promises are sacred, after all.
"No!" I blurt out, taking Alani and Manny off guard. "I mean...no. If they have that weapons depot, they'll have a well supplied army waiting for us. We should take out the Event Center first."
Manny nods. "Good thinking. We might find more intel, as well."
"When should we head out?" Alani asks.
The coordinator shrugs. "Why wait? Move on the Event Center as soon as possible."
Thirty minutes later…
Tidal Basin
Debriefing room
Opening the office-like door, I find several people, some I recognise, some I don't. The first one I notice is President Ellis, standing in front of a map of D.C.
"Ah, Agent Green." He says warmly. "Welcome."
The other people look up to me as the door closes. The next is Dot, close to the opposite end of the table. She nods to me, then turns back to her work. Last, but not least, is Commander Schaeffer, with whom I'd had a lovely conversation with last night. He smiles, pulling out the empty chair next to him and offering it to me. I approach it, only to push the chair back in and walk to the other side of the table opposite him. I take a seat, dropping the notebook containing my Washington Monument report on the table and smirking at the scowl on Schaeffer's face.
"Captain." Ellis says, gesturing to a man at the end of the table whom I don't recognise. "You were saying?"
The man clears his throat and looks down at his laptop.
"My scouts report that the Control Points surrounding the 'Theater', 'Campus', and the White House are still firmly in Militia hands. However, spirratic fighting between them and the 'Outcasts', 'Hyenas', and 'True Sons' still occurs. The 'True Sons' have recaptured the East Mall and the Southwest, including the 'Castle' settlement…"
As the reports continue, I find myself fiddling with my new prosthetic, my eyes wandering the room. Subconsciously, I repeatedly twist my thumb back and forth, as it has taken the place of my tendency to click pens. This goes on for several minutes until a voice snaps me back to reality.
"Agent Green." Ellis says loudly, likely for the second or third time. Startled, I twist and pull at the same time, snapping my thumb clean out of its socket.
"Would you care to share your report on your mission at the Washington Monument?" The President asks politely, in a tone that always made me uncomfortable. "Your handler, Lieutenant Kayhill, as well as Commander Schaeffer, tell me it was very successful."
My eyes quickly dart around from person to person, all staring at me, then down to my hand and severed thumb. I push the appendage into the empty socket, twisting it sharply back into place and flexing my hand for a moment. To cover my embarrassment, I open my notebook and flip to the correct page.
"I arrived at the Monument around 2100 hours last night." I read. "The Control Point appeared well defended by the Militia." I cringe as the next words reach my eyes. "I silently eliminating several of them, including my primary target, Lieutenant O'Connor of the D.C. JTF. Shortly after assassinating him, a team of Division Agents arrived, supplemented by more JTF personnel, despite there being no alarm sounded. Seeing what I would be up against, and knowing my target to be eliminated, I made my retreat. I could hear commotion coming from the Control Point after bodies had likely been found, but I was already out of sight and headed back here, arriving at the Tidal Basin shortly before 2300."
Ellis nods, then cocks his head slightly. "These Division Agents, were they Active or Rogue?"
"Active." I say with a slight nod.
"Were you at all aware of their identities?"
"The rain and darkness made it difficult to make out any identifying features." I reply slowly, shifting in my chair. "However, I suppose it's possible that I knew them. I left once they arrived, anyway."
The President hums at me, then turns his attention to Dot. "Lieutenant, does your report make mention of these Agents?"
"Yes it does."
"And Agent Green had no interaction with them?"
I flash Dot with a look of worry. "I knew I was being followed!"
Despite my concern, Dot keeps a level head.
"None at all." She says. "She got away undetected. Rather impressive, if I may add."
"Right, then I'd say Ms. Green is ready for her next assignment." Ellis looks to me. "If you had been listening to the Captain's report, you'll know about the sightings of JTF and Division presence in the vicinity of the Potomac Event Center. You will be paired with two more Agents for this operation. Mostly a precaution, as our presence there is quite substantial, but should there be an attack, it must be crushed completely. Agent Green, you and the Lieutenant Kayhill are dismissed. Lieutenant, please escort our friend to meet her team?"
"Yes, Sir. Follow me, Sarah." We stand nearly in unison and leave the room as the meeting continues.
Dot is the only one here I actually like. Nearly everyone else ignores me, or just nods and mutters "Agent." or something similar.
Some part of me hopes that this 'JTF sighting' is Kelly's team, or everyone moving on the Event Center together. The chaos of that type of battle? A perfect opportunity for someone to go missing…
Dot leads me back to the locker room, where I was the previous night, and I'm greeted by two more Rogue Agent turncoats. A man and woman, who both look up at my arrival.
"Dove." She begins. "This is Tarantula and Widow. Callsigns from here on out. Get kitted up and head to the Event Center."
"Will you be joining us, El Tee?" 'Tarantula' asks.
"Sadly no." She replies, shaking her head. "Maybe on the next one. Have fun, Agents."
"Oh we will." 'Widow' says devilishly. "So 'Dove', huh? What's your story?"
"Probably too long, given how little time we have to ready up." I say, brushing past them to my locker.
"Aw, come on." Tarantula presses. "Everyone's got a story. Widow and I? Got left behind in the New York DZ. Escaped the city, raising hell for every JTF deployment we could find. Eventually got picked up by Black Tusk after a tangle with an Agent here. 'Rocko', or some shit."
"Dude kicked our asses." Widow adds, readying her weapons, an M40A5 rifle and a Famas. "Pinned us to the wall in DZ South. We managed to disappear through the sewer. The next people we came across were Black Tusk. That was about a year ago, and we've been with them since."
"Really?" I ask cautiously. "I was in New York, too. Were you some of Vanguard's people?"
"Keener?" Widow asks. "Hell no! That dude is a lunatic. Sure, we were just as heated as the next guy about being left behind, but he wants to take over the world. I just wanted to get the fuck outta dodge."
"Well...he won't be any time soon." I say, caving into story time and picking up my KRISS Vector.
"Why?" Tarantula gives me a sideways look.
"I...well actually we killed him. My...old partner and I."
"No shit!" Widow exclaims. "Nice. What happened to your partner?" She asks curiously.
"We killed him, like I said. Then a year or so later, we got called down here. Some urgent communication between our field CO and a few of her friends here." I look down at my weapon. "We got jumped by Black Tusk while out and about, it was just the two of us. Ellis himself was there."
"Wait, were you the ones who grabbed him from the Hyenas?"
We leave the locker room behind, now outside in our uniforms and headed to the event center. Tarantula and Widow have similar gear to me, but they have far more of a 'soldier' appearance.
"That we were. My partner and I got all shot up, then I woke up in the Tidal Basin. She was gone."
Tarantula nods along, shooting me a sympathetic glance.
"In civilian life, we were together. She told me she loved me...more times than I can count. I thought I did, too. But she clearly didn't enough to stop them. To save me." Horrifyingly, for just a split second, I actually believe the words coming out of my mouth. I shake the thoughts off with a sigh, pulling myself back together.
"God. Listen to me." I mutter. "I'm sorry. I said too much."
"Don't worry about it." Widow waves off my concern. "We've all got a similar story. Betrayal seems second nature for the Division, doesn't it, Dove?"
"Yeah...I suppose it does."
A/N: Hey, it's been a while since I said anything down here. In spite of Widow and Tarantula being present and later killed in the first game (I believe at the Napalm Site), I decided to have them return. Sarah isn't too bad at play acting, despite Alani's concerns. However, these actions do tend to leave a lasting mark.
Happy Thanksgiving, at least to my American readers. Don't be reading this at the dinner table, now!
Thank you for reading, and see you next time!