A lone red van rolls past a couple of abandoned cars in the middle of the street before it regains its normal speed. The two people in the van are a news team duo of the Daily Bugle: reporter Freya Springfield and cameraman Cade Brooks. The two have been working together as a team after meeting overseas in Afghanistan while Freya was doing a report of a private military force involved in the war on terror. Cade kept his eyes on the road as he drives while Freya is glued to the sights out of window. Fires on the street, sidewalks piled up with trash, and cars piling up and congest the way. The situation went from bad to worse since the start of the plague.
New York is in hell since Black Friday. The city wasn't in a full city riot, but instead hit by a wave of smallpox that's been called as the dollar flu. It got it's name after it was found in dollar bills passed between hands during the sales. In a matter of weeks, the city falls to panic, riots, and death and with emergency services either dead or left their post to survive the epidemic, hope of turning the situation around was fading by the minute. Reporter Freya Springfield hopes to find an accurate summary of the situation, something to ease the viewers back at home.
The Daily Bugle news van is now rolling up to Wall Street. A checkpoint appears in front of them with armed soldiers posted in the area. One of them points at their vehicle and gestures them to drive up. Cade sighs and rolls his eyes. Freya snaps her head around from the passenger side.
"Is that the army?" Freya whispers from the passenger side. The soldier gets close to the van, making Freya's heart race.
"No, it's The Last Man Battalion." Cade replies with a dreadful groan. Thankfully, he used to work for them as security detail before he met Freya. Unfortunately, his former credentials won't do much with a group of soldiers who had to guard Wall Street assets during the epidemic. "They've got this area locked down. No way around them to get to Central Park. I'll handle this."
Cade rolls the window down. The guard keeps his distance and rifle at ease, but ready to shoot on the first sign of trouble. An LMB soldiers steps up to the van and opens his hand.
"Show me your identification, now!" The LMB mercenary growls.
Cade takes a moment to pull his card out of his wallet before handing over his and Freya's driver's license to the impatient soldier. The mercenary glances both of them for a few seconds before shoving them back into Cade's hands.
"What's your business passing through here?"
"We need to get to the quarantine site for an interview." Cade answers. "We're with the Daily Bugle."
"The Quarantine site? That's full of infected and dead people." The mercenary waves them off with his hand. "Do yourself a favor and go home. You have no business down here."
"Please. The people want to know if things are going to get better." Freya chimes in with a plea.
"Better?" The mercenary scoffs. "It won't with the government's rag tag of volunteers running the city. They can't control the populace right and will soon fall to chaos faster than they expected it. Turn around now! Your interview won't happen."
Cade tries to protest against the soldier's orders by shifting the van into drive and move forward. However, several LMB hired guns step in front of the van. The mercenary had enough and levels his rifle at Cade. The camera man puts his hands up. More mercenaries appear and surround the vehicle.
"Sorry sir, it's time for you to leave."
"Fine. I wasn't in the mood for arguing."
Cade shifts the gear into reverse and is about to turn around. Just then, an armored green and brown hummer rolls appears with a line of jeeps before coming into a stop. A squad of soldiers in fatigues step out and glare at the mercenaries. One of them, who seems to be an officer from the national guard, waves his hand at the mercenary.
"What the hell is going on here?" The national guard officer shouts.
"Stay out of this, JTF!" The mercenary snaps at the officer. "This is none of your business."
The Joint Task Force, or JTF, are a combined group of firefighters, medical workers, volunteers, cops, and soldiers of the national guard. They were created shortly after the epidemic began to contain the peace and prevent the spread. To Freya, they're people the reporter can trust. Freya leans over Cade's lap.
"We're reporters from the Daily Bugle!" Freya shouts over the mercenary. "We're authorized to enter the quarantine site by CERA Doctor John Oxton for a interview on the outbreak."
"You're Freya Springfield?" The JTF officer asks.
Freya nods quickly. Another man who is a doctor steps out of the armored hummer and nods back at the reporter. He's no doubt John Oxton. He speaks quietly and quickly to the JTF officer before getting back into the vehicle.
"We'll escort you to a secured site, ma'am." The JTF officer says. "Follow us."
The LMB soldier roll their eyes up in response, probably grumpy about having to let the JTF overstepping their territory. Cade brings the news van to follow the JTF hummer down the street to the quarantine area.
They pass through the two tall iron gates of what used to be Central Park and park the vehicles. Freya and Cade step out and walk up to Oxton as he gets out of the hummer. He waves the two and has them follow into a quiet place, a massive tent in the large quarantine area. Freya's eyes wander around. They flicker to the group of construction workers moving large concrete walls around central park. Her eyes shift over to a group of sanitation workers carrying one body bag from a pile of the dead to a massive hole and dropping inside. The excavator seals the hole up with dirt and begins digging a hole for the next batch of body bags. Freya shudders from the sight and steps into a building with John and Cade. The three enter a small office. The doctor sighs as the doors close behind them and folds his hands as all three sat down in chairs.
"I apologize for that unpleasantness from those mercenaries. They are really unhappy and are on edge with this outbreak." He takes a sip of coffee. "So, do you need anything from me?"
"Just some questions." Freya pulls out a pen and prepares to take notes. "What's the status so far?"
"Well... I'm not going to lie. It's a living nightmare." Oxton sighs. "We got more infected coming in than we can handle, and we are losing staff in the process of fighting this epidemic and keeping it from getting out of Manhattan."
"Do you guys have enough supplies?"
"Yep." John nods at first, but then lets out another sigh. "But it's difficult to get them from once place to another. There are angry and desperate rioters looting stores and stealing our supplies. We still have no effective vaccine for the dollar flu. If this keeps up, then we will have no choice but to abandon the site. There's rumors I'm being transferred to Brooklyn to keep us doctors among the living and lock Manhattan down entirely."
"Oh god." Freya mutters to herself. "So, what do you recommend everyone should do?"
"The least you can do to stay inside and healthy. Don't go to Central Park." John shakes his head. "Don't put this bit on the air. If you're not infected, then get out of Manhattan or stay as far from downtown as possible. This will not go over quick, even with Spider-Man around. Hell, I doubt the Avengers can stop this from getting worse without getting themselves infected."
"Thank you, Dr. Oxton." Freya stands up and sticks her thumb up to avoid shaking hands with the doctor. "We'll put that on the air tonight, hopefully."
Cade and Freya step outside and get into their van to drive out of Central Park. At the moment, a group of soldiers from the JTF are hustling out to the streets with weapons drawn. Gun shots rattle in the distance. Freya looks up to a familiar face swinging his way through the city; Spider-Man.
"At least you're out there. Do what you can to save the city, Spidey." Freya mutters with hope in her quiet voice. As she leaves the building, she scratches her head a little before she notices something glowing on her wrist. She finds that its her watch.
-Spider-Man-
This was a test that no one, not even Spider-Man himself, was prepared for. One day, he was putting the stop to the Shocker and his latest heist on Black Friday. He was like everyone else when people started to become sick after that day who thought it was just a terrible flu season. However, it eventually was discovered to be small pox and set the city into panic. Now, he is finding himself on an unrelenting task to save New York from a small pox virus that's bringing the city to it's knees. Thoughts of friends, Aunt May, and the city entirely cluttered his mind. He needs his head in the game to protect the ones he holds dear.
Spider-Man leaps on top of an apartment building while he hears gunshots rattling from a distance. Another firefight brewing on the streets from a group of people desperate to steal and kill to survive. He can hear the JTF yell over the gunfire and shouting.
"We got rioters attacking a JTF supply convoy. We can't hold them off for long. Get us some reinforcements."
"Borkovic reading you." SWAT officer Oliver Borkovic replies over the coms. "Phalanx squad is coming in hot. Spider-Man, are you around? If so, can you head over to Wall Street."
"Wall Street? The LMB are there and you know how they are. Shoot first and ask questions later."
"They won't shoot you with me around." Oliver sighs on the radio. "Just be careful and hurry, over."
"Got it, Ollie."
Oliver and Spider-Man were a team when it came to taking down organized crime and super villains in the past before the virus hit on Black Friday. Now their darkest hour had come and it's starting to become a loosing battle. Spider-Man leaps off the apartment building and swings his way to Wall Street. Soon, he spots a group of the JTF ducking behind their vehicles and shooting at a large group of armed looters. Spider-Man uses his webs to yank their guns away. The JTF stop firing as the looters turn around to run away. Spider-Man leaps down in front of the sounds of their cheers.
"Thank you, Spider-Man." The JTF officer grins and lowers his weapon.
Before Spider-Man can say anything, an armored vehicle rolls up to the convoy. Oliver steps out with the remnants of the NYPD SWAT team, Phalanx squad. Oliver walks up to Spider-Man as his SWAT team starts helping the JTF to get their convoy back on track.
"You beat me to it, again." Oliver grins as he lifts his face shield up. "Thank you."
"Well, I don't know about you, but they aren't something to be afraid of." Spider-Man smirks.
"They're dangerous in numbers and are making things worse." Oliver fires back. "Anyways, JTF will get these supplies back to the quarantine zone."
A SWAT officer taps Oliver on the shoulder. "Sir, it's the LMB. They're not happy."
Several hummers and armored vehicles pull in and come to a complete stop. A large company of the Last Man Battalion step out of their vehicles and spread out to secure the area. An LMB officer wearing a white face mask and a red cloth walks up to Oliver, Spidey, and the JTF officer.
"Officer Borkovic, you better have a good excuse for the JTF to be in our area." The LMB soldier snaps.
"Just a skirmish while moving supplies." Oliver steps in. "We got this. We'll be out of the way very soon."
"Sure, you do." The LMB solider glares at Spider-Man. "I see they let masked vigilantes into the JTF now."
"He's with us." Oliver fists tighten, trying not to let his anger take over his frustrated state. "He's done a lot so far. We need to get these supplies back."
"Sir." A SWAT officer shouts. "The rioters are back."
A group of looters pop out of the alley with baseball bats and golf clubs and begin charging at the convoy. Spider-Man leaps and climbs up to the roof to prepare an attack from the air as Oliver, his SWAT team, and the LMB hunker down and shoot the rioters. Just as he's ready to drop down on them, Spider-Man notices another group of rioters on the top of the parking garage. They toss smoke grenades in front of the JTF to cover the rushers. One person mounts his light machine gun on the rail to mow down the JTF.
Spider-Man shouts to Oliver as he swings up to the parking garage.
"Ollie, I'm going to take the rioters in the garage before they get the jump on you!"
"Make it quick!" The SWAT captain shouts. "We got plenty down here."
Spider-Man leaps onto the top floor and kicks a thrower out of the way. The heavy gunner notices the hero and swings his RPK-74 around to shoot him.
"Alright, no more big military grade guns for you. I mean it!"
He shoots his web and pulls the heavy gunner's weapon away. The rest of the rioters stop and focus on Spider-Man as he uses his webs to swing the heavy machine gun around like a wrecking ball. A couple of rioters back away as he knocks some of their friends down.
He tosses the gun away as the rioters retreat back into the garage. Before he can start hunting them down, Oliver screams to him on the radio.
"Get off the roof! The LMB are going to level the parking garage with grenade rounds!"
"Whoa!" Spiderman gasps. "Then tell them to stand down. There's no more of those gangsters in the parking garage."
"They're not listening to me anymore. They're calling it in anyway. Just move your ass for the love of God."
His Spider senses go into alert and spots a handful of grenades landing on the roof. Spider-Man runs and tries to leap off the roof. The grenades explode behind him a bit too soon and shove the wall crawler forward and down into the alley below. He hits his head on a pipe before his back slams onto to the ground. He blacks out as he hits the ground, going out like a light.
-Oliver Borkovic-
The half Russian grows furious as he watched the hero of New York fell. To the decorated cop who worked with Spider-Man to crackdown on the Maggia crime family from becoming a dangerous force, this was a slap and a spit to the face. His anger goes into overdrive, no longer caring about the consequences of his actions. He quickly tries to grab the LMB demolitionist who blew up the building. However, an LMB officer stops him by pulling out his pistol and turns his safety off. Oliver snaps his head at the LMB officer pointing the pistol at him.
"You maniacs!" Oliver rasps. "I told you not to go ahead unless I say so and look what you did you son of a bitch!"
"So what? You don't tell us what to do." The LMB officer snaps back. "We did what needed to be done."
"You just killed Spider-Man. He's means a lot to the people in the city and you just killed him!"
"Had to make sure those rioters wouldn't regroup. It's better to shoot someone innocent than to let someone guilty go. Now, get out of Wall Street or there will be some problems.
A group of scouts in red ski masks surround Oliver. One of them pumps his shotgun. A SWAT officer steps up to bring Oliver back to the armored truck before the situation between the NYPD SWAT and the LMB get any worse. The LMB stare them down as the NYPD SWAT drive away from the LMB's territory. The LMB turn around to return to their posts.
"Damn hired guns." Oliver growls. He clenches his fists. "They've gone way too far. How are we going to contain the city without Spider-Man?"
"It's alright, sir." An officer steps in to pat his superior's shoulder to calm down. "We'll report it to the JTF."
"The JTF can't do anything." Another officer fires back. "The Last Man Battalion have been killing civilians who accidentally get in their way and nothing is being done."
Oliver sighs in the passenger side as the van drives back to the police station. Then, he feels another officer tapping soldier.
"Hey, your watch sir."
"Yeah, it's nice." Oliver sighs, not wanting to talk right now. "It's just a fancy black watch."
"No." The officer shakes his head. "It's lighting up."
"Wait... what?"
Oliver then notices his watch acting different as the face glows a bright orange circle. To everyone else in the armored vehicle, they had no idea what it was. For Oliver, it's something more. The signal he been waiting for is here. He's been activated as an agent of the Division. Before he could go, he has to leave his former life as a SWAT officer completely. That meant leaving his squad mates in Phalanx squad behind He looks up at one officer, Sergeant Ross.
"I'm giving you one last order. Drop me off at the police station." Oliver says. "I need to go."
"The precinct?" Ross asks. "Sir, it's bone dry empty."
"Not true. I left something important and it's a good time to retrieve it." Oliver says.
The vehicle turns around and heads over to the police station. As it gets into a complete stop, Oliver hops off. A couple of his SWAT officers step out with him. Oliver goes around to shake hands and hug some of his best men. Ross is the last to say goodbye as the two hug each other.
"Goodbye, Captain." Ross says. "I don't know what's happening with you, but it sounds like it's important."
"I can't explain what's going on." Oliver separates himself from Ross. "But what I have to do is important, and I have to leave my post. As of today, I'm placing you in charge of Phalanx now, Ross."
"I won't stop you, sir." The now captain Ross nods, then salutes to his former superior. "Good luck out there."
"Likewise. Look after team for me."
Oliver waves to Ross one last time. Ross climbs into the armored vehicle and shuts the door before driving down the street and flipping the sirens on. Oliver steps into the police station and heads over to his office. The place became abandoned when the JTF took over and consolidated with Oliver's SWAT unit. He walks around his desk and goes over to a cabinet locked by a numerical passcode. He presses some buttons on the numerical lock to unlock the large cabinet in the room. Inside is a one strap backpack called a Go-Bag, a sub-machine gun, an earpiece, and a special ballistic shield. He slips the backpack on, equips the sub-machine gun, and pushes the earpiece into his ear. He glances at the bulletin board decorated with newspaper clips of his accomplishments in the force one last time, like the one day he helped Spider-Man stop the shocker on one of his heists, and another where he shut down Tombstone's garage shop for being a front of biker related activity. While he had great service under his belt, he wonders what being a Division agent will bring. Suddenly, He hears a voice through an encrypted channel that he knows well, Shane.
"This is O'Conner, how copy?"
"Shane." Oliver laughs a little. "It's good to hear your voice."
"Oliver?" Shane coughs on the mic. "Is that you?"
"Yeah. It's me."
It's good to hear Shane's voice after what just happened. Shane was a former hitman for the Maggia Crime family before being flipped to work with the NYPD after being betrayed by his benefactors. Oliver pulls the lever back on his gun to lock and load.
"Well, it's good you're in this. So, what do we do from here?"
Suddenly, a beep echoed in Oliver's earpiece. A robotic voice began to speak to him.
"Please stand by. Intelligent System Analytical Computer is activated. All ISAC systems are confirmed online." A robotic voice echoed on the channel. "Welcome agent Oliver Borkovic. Report to the Safehouse in Brooklyn for further instructions. Coordinates will be marked on your map."
At that moment, a holographic map of New York appears in front of Oliver. He steps back as the GPS highlights Oliver's position, then traces a line from here to the safehouse in Brooklyn. Oliver blinks a couple of times to make the map disappear.
"Did you get that, Shane?" Oliver asks as he's a little bewildered on what just happened.
"Yeah. I just saw the city in front of me for a few seconds. Looks like we're going to Brooklyn." Shane chuckles a little. "This stuff is insane. I'll meet you there."
"Copy that." Oliver sighs before he leaves the police station for good as a agent of the Division.
-Spider-Man-
He barely manages to open his eyes. The cold snow and air kick in with his senses. He's alive, of course. He could barely move, but doesn't have enough strength to stand up. The area is a bit quiet for a moment before he hears gunshots rattle in the distance. He quickly remembers how he got here, the explosions that set off by the LMB and blast him unconscious. Then, he hears footsteps approaching to him. He tries to move, but he's too weak. He feels someone lifting him up onto their shoulders. He hears the man speaking onto his ear piece.
"Guardian is secured, but is barely conscious. Need to move him out."
Spider-Man glances at the orange watch glowing on his wrist. Then, the man grunts and speaks again.
"Copy that. Moving Guardian to the safe house. Sword, out."
The good Samaritan carries the hero away from Wall Street. Spider-Man can't look forward, nor see the person's face. However, he gets a clue of where he's being taken to from hearing water from the river rolling against the docks. He had to be near a harbor. He notices the agent setting him down on the passenger side of the boat before going to work on hotwiring on the boat. He wanted to ask, but he just coughs and lays his head back on the chair. The agent glances at him and pats his arm before saying something Spider-Man couldn't make out of. After a few minutes, Spider-Man passes out again after hearing the boat starting up and moves out into the river. He had no idea who the good Samaritan is or which of the islands he's taking him, but hopefully there's a place where he can rest until he's ready to fight another day.
