I was on a Reconnaissance assignment at a newly discovered DZ up north, I managed to get in but, much like the other DZ’s before, I had to find several compatible components to activate the circuit breaker which could open the doors to DZ north, some of the recon equipment within was still operational so optionally, while tracking down said components, I also got some of the reconnaissance equipment up and running for the Whitehouse base of operations, I should get to finding the DZ area scans.
Manny: Hey agent, thanks for getting that recon gear running, we should be able to let you know if anything comes up while your in there.
ISAC: Echo Detected.
Senait: Agent, go and see what that echo has, we need to know what happened here.
Sure enough, I found and reconstructed the echo, and the tale it told was horrifying beyond belief, Rogue Agents “surviving agents from the first wave” were killing innocent people in there, not just them, but pretty much anyone, stealing their gear, Arnaments and anything else they could get their hands on, just for their amusement. Those rogue agents sickened me as much as it did Senait.
Senait: I can’t believe they would do such a thing, those horrible monsters... how could they do such a thing to such good people, hopefully that recon serveillance gear will allow us to keep an eye out. anyway, you need to find those components agent and get the gate open.
I managed to get to the safe house and find a working capacitor.
ISAC: Curcuit component detected, frequency match: compatible.
Senait: Good work, that’s one. Now we just need one more to power the gate. I’ve pinpointed a location for ISAC to perform an area scan.
As I progressed to the location, I found an echo, but what was really strange is that ISAC should have notified me of this echo in proximity, I checked and found there was a bit of static which stopped when I tapped it a couple times, I checked out the echo and found something. Unexpected...
Rogue Division agent 1: What the hell is going on, what happened here?
Rogue Division agent 2: I don’t know, we just found em like this, there’s even some sort of gaping cut on his back.
Rogue Division agent 1: Well whoever did this, we are gonna find them and give that bastard some payback.
Senait: Well how about that, I don’t know what happened there, but whoever’s killing those rogue division agents out there should be feeling good about themselves for doing right by the people that were slaughtered. But right now, you need to get to the Area I’ve marked for you.
Back on to the task at hand, I worked my way to the location indicated and performed the necessary area scan.
ISAC: Area Mapped.
Senait: Good work agent, I’ve marked the last area you need to perform the area scan with Isac.
ISAC: Warning, Unknown Threat Detected.
Manny: Agent, Head to the safehouse, I am picking up some serious static on the recon gear, whoever is after you is somehow scrambling the recon gear you fixed.
I scrambled to the safehouse as fast as I could, as I was making my way down to the safehouse, I was 40 meters away when.
ISAC: Unknown equipment detected
I knew I had to investigate and knowing someone was after me, they would know I would break for the safehouse so I diverted and made it to the Equipment mentioned by ISAC. There was a few dead Black tusk units piled up alongside some unorthodox equipment. Apparently there was a couple of deceased division agents here too, all with gaping cuts to their backs, the neck on a few, one completely split through the skull, Whoever killed them definitely knew what they were doing. but what was interesting was that their shoulder mounted Division Comms Were missing completely.
ISAC: Echo Detected
Sure enough, There was an echo just there alongside a lone body, I reconstructed the echo which revealed a Rogue Division Agent with an unknown figure I couldn’t see.
Rogue Division agent: Please. Don’t kill me. They would have killed me if I didn’t side with them.
???: Sorry mate, but You were already dead the moment you walked in this here Dark Zone, killing those people without even a second thought, what kinda heartless muckraker kills surviving bystanders for fun.
Rogue Division agent: Please. I swear I will get out of this DZ, I’ll find a way to atone for my actions. Just let me go!
???: No can do son, the damage is already done. Two wrongs don’t make a right in this neighbourhood. *Primes Gun. but I think you already knew that. *Gun fires. Shot lands clean between the eyes.
???: Next time, you’ll either walk away from a rogue and die with honor and dignity, or fight back and put 'em in their place permanently, make it safer for anyone else fearless enough to walk in... “End of echo.”
ISAC: Equipment components detected. Designation: Retro Reflective projectors and Transformational Optics.
Manny: What were the black tusk doing with that kind of equipment? They must have a reason for carrying those kind of components. Anyway, grab what you can find and head to the Area Senait pinpointed and get that area scanned agent.
ISAC: Components Contaminated.
Manny: Dammit, looks like your gonna have to extract them by chopper before you can make your way out of there after you perform the final area scan.
I made my way down to the area, picked up a couple of usable uncontaminated items along the way, got to the position and performed the area scan.
ISAC: Area scan complete, Extraction zones highlighted.
Senait: Nice work agent, now extract those items and put the capacitors in, there should be-<Static>
ISAC: Interference detected.
Manny: Ag<static> ts goi<static> down there. We<static> ome interfe<static>
ISAC: Communications ceased.
Well it looks like I’m on my own for now, I had to get these components extracted, find the remaining capacitor, get the DZ gates open and send the map to the S.H.D terminal just outside the Northern DZ.
I popped a flare for item extraction and managed to succeed in extracting most of the contaminated goods, right before I copped a bullet wound to the leg from out of nowhere.
Rogue Division Agent: Well what do we have here, looks like I found another Division agent just waiting to die.
I thought I was done for, I closed my eyes and feared the worst as I was losing a lot of blood. But all I heard was the sound of splatter, the rogue agent fell to the side, I. Could only just see the feet of a mysterious figure before finally fading into the black...
*Several Hours later.
I had just woke up from being unconscious, my leg was strangely patched up and just as I went to get up...
???: Finally awake are we sunshine.
I looked to my left, to my horrifying but strangely relieved surprise.
???: you may want to give that leg a couple more minutes friend, I had to stitch it up real good before cauterizing it with a makeshift brandin iron. so it may be some time before you can leave.
I was in an unknown location with what looked to be a Hunter, I knew because of all the S.H.D communicators adorning his right shoulder.
???: is there any particular reason why you came to this DZ? Because most agents who head here either get killed or turned.
I told 'em about my recon mission for Manny and Senait at the whitehouse, sure enough.
???: Huh. So your helpin out me ol' friend Manny eh? Talk about an extremely rare coincedence. Also just a heads up, don't bother trying to reach the White House with your communicator, I had to rig a special jammer to keep them there rogues from usin their maps, keeps 'em blind essentially.
???: But I'll tell ya what, you stay here fer a couple ‘o’ minutes while I get some materials up top, I can tinker with your communicator and align it with the jammers frequency, that way you and I can keep each other posted while being able to reach your own communication channels within the White House without anyone else knowin ‘bout it, there’s some uncontaminated provisions in the refridgeration unit there if you get a bit nippy while I’m out.
Sure enough, the Hunter wasn't lying, there was uncontaminated provisions in the fridge so I helped myself to a few bits and pieces, while trying to work out what this Hunter has in stock for me...
*several minutes later.
???: I'm back, you holdin up alright there. I just got sidetracked for a few minutes, had to eighty-six a couple of rogue division agents, I swear one comes in with each rogue I kill ya know, but at least it gives me something to do and a way to hone my craft.
???: anyway, while you were resting up, I also found a few new tidbits that should work with those Retro-Reflective Projectors and Transformational Optics you picked up, Believe it or not, those BTSU bodies you saw with the deceased Agents, well let’s just say they got ambushed by those Division agents, except they were rogue because of the flickering grey skull on their SHD communicator so in turn, they killed the soldiers, and I buried the hatchet into the frontal lobes of their gray matter. Gave them what for.
???: Turns our that equipment they had was for some sort of Prototype Cloaking Device built into their armor, didn’t know what happened until one of them supposedly vanished into near thin air, weird thing is I could still partly see ‘em because of the effective background warp, managed to clip ‘em with a silenced marksman rifle before those rogue nutters showed up.
Hearing about that got me on edge, to think the Black Tusk are creating armor that can make them unseen to the naked eye, that’s gonna be a problem not just for the surviving people in D.C. but for the whitehouse and pretty much everyone else.
???: The one I bagged from the BT soldier was the only working cloak, so really they ended up with one heck of a loss, it will be a long time before they can create another working prototype, but I wouldn’t give my hopes up. Worst case scenario, BT snipers become one of the deadliest threats there are.
*A Few hours later.
???: By the way, you should be fit to return to the White House. I took the liberty of Decontaminating your contaminated goods for you. Funny thing about chemistry, because DC-62 becomes deadlier in cold environments, I found a way to completely remove it from any substance using this handy makeshift Boiler Chamber, it takes a few hours to decontaminate anything inside though because it exposes the contaminants to a Huge level of Heat that the virus can’t handle while preserving the items in the heating chamber.
As I was gathering my items and heading out.
???: I’ll show you a shortcut that should get you straight to the gate, very few people use this passage because it is often fraught with peril. That and I littered the passage with deadly traps.
*a few minutes later of walking through sewers.
???: Well, he we are, the gates of DZ north. Also, here’s the other gate capacitor, I held on to this one in an effort to seal off the DZ from any other S.H.D agents that would be foolhardy enough to waltz in here with a death sentence.
As I was putting the capacitors in and reactivating the turrets via nearby S.H.D terminal, the Hunter gave me a warning and a message to relay.
???: you be careful out there, because as far as you know, I am the only friendly hunter out here for now. You so much as turn rogue in this DZ, I will personally hunt you down and ensure you never see the light of day. Other than that, be sure to give my regards to Manny, and pass this Dossier to him, and only him, he’ll know what to do with it...
And without further ado, I got out of the DZ through the checkpoint and relayed the map through a nearby S.H.D terminal.
End of Backstory.