New York City, the city that was the symbol of America through it's history. From the Statue of Liberty to the Empire State Building, it shows how far Americans can get when they have a dream and a goal in their mind. The city also had creative and smart people within the city, to show off the creative side of the city. No matter what happened to the city, it will still stand tall and proud. But, even Javier was going to learn that every city has it's weakness and then it slowly collapses and then the virus came and weaken New York City. He haven't been in New York City since he joined the military, he visited his family there two years ago. The subway tunnels were empty in a bad way, because there would usually be a subway or some homeless people. The darkness and the quite of the tunnels made it felt weirder and creeper as there was nothing but the tracks that would lead to New York City. Then a subway train's door opened as it came out Javier and he hopped onto the ground and dropped a flare on the ground. The flare was orange and it lighten the area up as it revealed a tent and another abandoned subway train. Javier opened his backpack and said, "There is a tent and another subway train. I going to check it out." and then grabbed a special mask to make such that they didn't get the virus.

He then closed the backpack and grabbed it and place it in his back as he made his way to the tent. The tent was colored red at the top and while at the bottom as he opened it, there was a man and a woman inside of it, hugging each other. They looked like they were in their thirties and were married to each other as their marriage rings were still in their ring finger. They died due to the virus as there was no any wounds, that can hurt them and kill them, and there was blood coming out of the man's mouth. There was a video came on the lap of the woman and then Javier grabbed it. The video camera was a Canon VIXIA HF R300 Refurbished, he picked it up and turned it on, as it still had batteries in it. He then opened the area, where the batteries and memory card were at, and took it as he dropped the camera onto the ground outside of the tent. He went outside of the tent and zipped the door shut. Javier shouted out loud, "There are two bodies near the tent, don't go in it without the mask on." and walked towards the other subway train. He tired to open it, but it was either jammed or something was blocking it and then he said, "The door to the subway train is blocked, if someone could get it open it, it would be nice.".

He then went to the center of the area and said, "Alright, guys, we need to see where we are at and then get out of this shit hole. Our first objective is to check on the Grand Central Terminal Quarantine Zone. Ever since they went out on the fifth day of the virus, people are looking for Quarantine Zones elsewhere and they're getting bigger each day. We need to check if they are fine and fix anything, that is broken. Don't fire unless they attack us and if they are sick with the virus, don't go anywhere near them without the mask. Got it.". He then stopped talking to the group and looked at the wall and it said, "None of this matters.." and then he said, so the group could hear, "It does matter. We are the Division after all. We help the weak and we are here to save this city."

Almost nonchalantly, Miranda "Red" Crosley followed New Castle out of the subway car and onto the platform, eating the final pieces of her beef MRE. As she chewed the remants, she dropped the plastic bag it came in on the ground, not caring about the litter. Taking a cue from New Castle - not Javier, as Red almost never used people's real names for some odd reason, even preferring people refer to her as Red on a casual basis - she put her mask on, which was previously hanging limply around her neck. Her mask was rather simple, and smaller than average, as hers was just a filter mask that covered the nose and mouth, leaving the eyes exposed. She preferred it this way, saying the goggles of the heavier, bulkier masks interferred with her aim. She also painted a little on her mask due to being a creative sort, giving it a "slasher smile," otherwise known as a Glasgow Smile, complete with blood-colored paint, making it look rather wicked.

New Castle poked around in a tent for a bit before trying to open another subway car's door, and finding it locked. Red, meanwhile, was poking around at the other end of the station at some sheets left on a bench, presumably from some homeless man. There were even some (unfortunately empty) cans of beans and beer. She heard New Castle call out from across the station that he was unable to open the door to the subway car.

After a slightly awkward half-second, she responded "Sounds like a job for Big Guy. Pretty sure she won't have trouble with a simple door. Hell, she probably could open it even without that fancy suit she wears."

As Red poked around the beddings of the missing homeless man, her MP7 in one hand, M110 hanging by the harness, she found a brochure for New York City itself. "Come, visit Grand Central Station!" it shouted in large, bold letters. It also had advertisements for local resturaunts, among other things. She dropped it back on the bench, her curiosity sated seeing as it was entirely useless.

She took a seat on the bench near to the bedsheets and listened as New Castle went over their directives. Again. And then he mused over some graffitti on the wall which read "None of this matters..."

Red chuckled. "Good to know whoever wrote that was of the optimistic sort."

“Javier, one day you’re goin ta stick you head somewhere it don’t belong and you’re gonna get it blown right off. We got a robot fo checkin out suspicious tents.” Irina stepped heavily out of the subway car right behind Red and took a lazy look around.

“Place looks better with the lights on and people around.” Indeed, it was a hellish-looking introduction to New York, lit as it was by nothing but the red light of a flare. Irina lifted an arm up to turn on the flashlights on her helmet, more for her comrades’ sakes than for hers. She knew her way around Grand Central Station well enough to traverse it in her sleep, after all. She couldn’t quite tell which terminal they were at, given that they all looked roughly the same, but she’d definitely be able to help them get out.

Of course Javier needed help with some heavy lifting. He wasn’t a big guy, but he also wasn’t the most fit of them: 3 years of “cushy” captain training for the army did that to you. Sure, you learned tactics, but she’d yet to meet an army officer who came close to the physical prowess of the Marine’s she’d been stationed with. With a sigh that she didn’t broadcast, she went over and wrenched the doors open, at the last second opting not to use the exoskeleton when she heard Red’s bet. “Haha, you bet you. If you guys woulda stayed in shape you coulda done so, too. Hey Virgin, get Howard out here. I’m not as keen on getting myself killed as NC is.”

Being the fourth squad member off the train probably made it safe, or at least safer for Taurus to drop his guard and find something to do without worry, but that wasn't the way he did things, or even the way he could do things. He had done this sort of thing so many times before that now his movements in such a situation were on pure instinct. He cleared where he could immediately and began looking for something to do or scavenge whilst they were all there. As temporary as it likely was. The platform was a bit of a tip but they all had been in London too and they hadn't been hit by... This. The words dirty and subway seemed to go hand in hand anyhow. There was one good thing about a place being a mess though, it meant that maybe there were supplies that they couldn't see, probably buried under the shit if such things were there.

“Grunt, check for supplies.”

The dog immediately scoured ahead, sniffing around. He was a good dog.

As the others did their thing Taurus simply kept scanning everything with his eyes. There wasn't all that much for him to do here and he doubted there would be any truly useful supplies, but who was to know. It was always good to expect the unexpected after all.

With Javier having just searched the one solo tent and Big Guy getting the subway train doors open there wasn't much for Taurus to help out with at the moment. He was happy to be with these people though. They seemed like decent men and women, and were all definitely great soldiers. Aye, as far as squads went this one was a good one. It had the added weight behind it of having to be though. Shit, it was designed to be. They were tasked with a tremendous mission after all. It wasn't at all funny how things worked out though. Thomas had taken the position at The Division with thoughts of an awesome retirement plan. Getting paid handsomely for waiting for something that in all probability was never going to happen in his life time seemed like a great idea. Funny. From retirement plan to what was almost certainly a life long mission. Oh well, it was a great mission to go out on at least.

Taurus turned his attention to New Castle who was putting out some encouraging words. Thomas wasn't yet sure how he would turn out as a leader, he seemed decent enough, but you never really knew such things until you saw combat together. Whatever the case Thomas knew everyone would have to get very comfortable with each other. It was going to be that or die in a lot of situations.

Approaching behind Javier and joining the others in looking up at the bleak graffiti message Thomas let out a hearty laugh.

“That's the type of shit I would scrawl on bus stop windows when I was fourteen... Glad to see not much has changed, well, in the youth at least.” Thomas spoke smiling.

“Grunt, come on back to me.”

5 days. That's all it took for the world's largest city to fall on its knees. Despite the decades of warnings about potential biological threats, the US found itself with its pants down, and was ill prepared for such an attack. However, James knew that in the back of his hand that there were people around the nation, working around the clock to help fix the situation. The CDC was probably going 5 days straight without taking a break in an attempt to figure out what was going on. Doctors everywhere were doing their best to help the ill, and people were trying to keep the situation calm. It was James' job to help those in need in New York, and he was going to sure as hell do his best. After all, he had trained for years in order to address situations like this. Being prepared for the unknown was his forte.

James stepped out of the train. Grand Central was their destination, but progress was slow. Without a clear means of transportation, they had to walk through the tunnels of the New York Metro. He looked around through the visor of his gas mask. He knew that New York wasn't the cleanest city in the world. But, the tunnels looked like they came right out of a post apocalyptic movie. There was garbage everywhere, and signs of panic. James watched as Javier walked over to the tent, and report that there were some bodies in there. This intrigued James. He reached into his vest and pulled out a test tube. He went into the tent and began to take some blood samples. Although the chances were small, finding Patient Zero would help figure out the problem substantially, and perhaps even point out who released this virus. So, having blood samples could help the cause. James finished taking samples and sealed them to make sure that nothing could get in or out. James then left the tent and rejoined the group. He said through the mask "Well, it's not pretty in there. Not that its much better out here..."

[As Warren due to SirBeowulf's absence]

Warren finally stepped out of the train, his robotic friend Howard almost soundlessly following him. As soon as he stepped off the train, he stooped down and started fiddling with an access panel.on Howard, much to the latter's chagrin. Or, at least, as chagrinned as a robot could be, judging by it's disapproving bleeps and boops.

"Hang on, Howie. Just checkin' to make sure you're not getting rusty, is all," he said, as he screwdrivered a panel off. Howard complained by moving away from Warren as he did this, and Warren gave up. "Alright, have it your way. Lemme' just put this back on."

After a quick reattachment of the panel and a pep-talk from New Castle, Irina mentioned sending Howard into the subway car as an advance scout.

"But it might be dangerous! He might get hurt in there!" Warren joked, fully aware a mobile gun platform made of pure metal would probably be able to deal with whatever threat was in there, unless the inhabitants of the city had EMP grenades suddenly.

Warren just gave his little buddy a pat on the back; or at least, as close to a back the rover had, and gave it an encouraging "Go show 'em what you're made of," as Howard went off, into the unexplored subway car.

He looked up at the written words and then heard the other members, saying something about the words. Red chuckled at the words and said that they must have optimistic sort, while Taurus said that nothing has change in youth. New Castle heard the words of Irina and said, "Well then, I guess that robot or the other robot, talking to me, would be the leader.". He then let out a laugh and breathed as he said to Irina, "Thanks for doing the heavy work for us." and then he saw Howard going off into the unexplored subway car and New Castle said, "Alright, let's get back to our jobs and go to the subway car and search for a way out. There must be a station, where the subway car is blocking our view, but we need to keep an eye out of anyone. Don't fire unless they attack you with guns and that kind of shit.". He then walked inside the car and followed Howard as he had stopped and waited for it's owner, but Grunt then ran under everyone's leg. Grunt almost made New Castle fall onto the ground and he said, "Man, Grunt must of found something." and ran towards Grunt. He turned to his right and then out of nowhere a scream echoed to out the station and in the subway car. "Oh shit! Grunt found a human being!" said New Castle as he heard the scream and ran towards the sound.

"Get off of me, you piece of shit." said the officer as he was in pain and then saw New Castle and said, "Listen, man. Could you get this dog off of me please?". New Castle heard the officer begging for his life and said, "Such, officer. Taurus, get that dog off of him and give him a treat if you have to.". The officer was in his thirties and looked like he had been to hell and back, with his hand on the hip and the damage leg, due to the dog. New Castle said, "You're hurt. We need some first aid kits here for this officer." and then he said, "After we get some first aid on you, you might want to tell us, how you got hurt in the first place.".

Taurus followed behind the rest of the squad with his faithful canine companion Grunt at his side. As terrible as every part of the shit that had happened and that was still going to happen was he was at least grateful and happy that he had Grunt at his side. He made a fine companion, that was for sure. Suddenly though the bloody mutt was no longer at his side, he had ran forward apparently seeking someone or something out. Taurus did his best to keep himself under control in these events but he still couldn't help but feel a little panicky. They were practically in a war zone after all. It wasn't good form to say that to anyone still left in the city though. You start calling somewhere or something a war and people start acting like soldiers. Anyway, he imagined the feeling he got when Grunt ran ahead was somewhat akin to the feeling one gets when their child runs off in a crowded supermarket... Maybe. Either way he picked up his pace, sqeezing by the others until he was side by side with New Castle. Listening and following through.

“Grunt, stand down.” With that the average sized dog moved away from the injured man and back to Taurus' side. “Good lad.”

“I don't have any medical equipment. What about you guys? Anything? I'm no doctor either but I could do an okay job of patching him up if you fellows aren't feeling up to it... Failing that, don't these trains have a first aid box somewhere?”