History NightmareFuel / TheDivision

** Larae Barrett is probably the single scariest faction leader of the game. One video shows her extorting her psychopathic minions to cause as much pain and misery as possible for ''anyone'' wearing a uniform. JTF, EMT, firemen, postmen, she isn't picky. And all the while she's slicing up a bound, begging minion (who apparently didn't care much for her leadership style). An earlier ECHO depicted her comparing disemboweling a JTF officer to gutting a pig... and then she does just that.

** The Riker's Castle where you fight [=LaRae=] Barrett shows how brutal the Rikers can be. In a way, the utterly cliche methods they use to torture the captured JTF inside make it even worse. One man is forced to either play a song on a piano right or wind up dead like his partner on the guitar. Two National Guard soldiers are forced to see who can survive the most shots of bleach. As one JTF officer pleads for their life claiming he's more than just a number and a uniform, the Riker states that now the man knows how it feels.

** The Riker's Castle where you fight LaRae Barrett shows how brutal the Rikers can be. In a way, the utterly cliche methods they use to torture the captured JTF inside make it even worse. One man is forced to either play a song on a piano right or wind up dead like his partner on the guitar. Two National Guard soldiers are forced to see who can survive the most shots of bleach. As one JTF officer pleads for their life claiming he's more than just a number and a uniform, the Riker states that now the man knows how it feels.

* The idea of the Division itself is this: a sleeper cell that infiltrates the civilian population, doesn't answer to any other branch of law enforcement, and is given permission to kill civilians (criminals and gang members, but still) at their discretion, without due process or even an attempt at non-violent resolution. That is straight up totalitarian.

** Rescuing the hostage at the West 42nd Street police station reveals they apparently made the cells into their own personal torture dungeon. Most of them are filled with the dead bodies of the JTF prisoners. One in particular has what looks like a ''headless'' JTF officer hanging from the ceiling, and a bloody baseball bat covered in ''barbed wire'' propped up outside. [[FridgeHorror Enjoy the implications of that, along with the idea that this is just]] ''[[FridgeHorror one]]'' [[FridgeHorror of what are probably]] ''[[FridgeHorror dozens]]'' [[FridgeHorror of such locations they have scattered all across their turf.]]

** Also, one should note that Rikers Island is one of the world's largest prisons, with an average daily population of 10,000 and a maximum capacity of 15,000. If Larae Barrett managed to bring even a ''tenth'' of the prison population with her, you're still looking at a sizable army of thugs hellbent on tearing it's way through Manhattan, every single one of them raping, pillaging and murdering for all it's worth. Now imagine if she brought a number closer to ''all of them'' off the prison with her.

** Just the thought that now you can never walk in freaking ''Manhattan'' without hearing gunshot or two everyday.

** Rescuing the hostage at the West 42nd Street police station reveals they apparently made the cells into their own personal torture dungeon. Most of them are filled with the mutilated of JTF prisoners. One in particular has what looks like a ''headless'' JTF officer hanging from the ceiling, and a bloody baseball bat covered in ''barbed wire'' propped up outside. [[FridgeHorror Enjoy the implications of that, along with the idea that this is just]] ''[[FridgeHorror one]]'' [[FridgeHorror of what are probably]] ''[[FridgeHorror dozens]]'' [[FridgeHorror of such locations they have scattered all across their turf.]]

** Playing in PvP mode makes it that much more tense. Survival severely ups the difficulty of surviving together by making all resources found work on a finders-keepers basis. But PvP means that that now, ''all of New York'' is effectively the Dark Zone. And it's no longer the potential of loot, but survival of the fittest. [[ParanoiaFuel Who do you trust? Who do you help?]]

* Just everything having to do with the Cleaners. Joe Ferro was probably an average middle-class man with a family until the Dollar Flu hit. Then his angrier instincts seemed to have rushed out when his wife died and Ferro blamed the "weak government" for not doing what needed to be done to stop the spread of disease. So what does Joe do? He organizes Manhattan's blue collar workforce, they arm themselves, and they set out to utterly burn the infection out of Manhattan. They think they're saving the city, even the nation and world, with every civilian they burn and every building they torch. You can't argue or reason with a zealot.

* Just everything having to do with the Cleaners. Joe Ferro was probably an average middle-class man with a family until the Dollar Flu hit. Then his angrier instincts seemed to have rushed out when his wife died and Ferro blamed the "weak government" for not doing what needed to be done to stop the spread of disease. So what does Joe do? He organizes Manhattan's blue collar workforce, they arm themselves, and they set out to utterly burn the infection out of Manhattan. They think they're saving the city, even the nation and world, with every civilian they burn and every building they torch. You can't argue or reason with a zealot.
* The trailer for ''The Division 2'' was shown at E3. We’re going to ''Washington D.C.'', and the screenshots show that the city has been ''abandoned'', and ''overrun'' with anarchy. Even AirForceOne has been captured. The Capital Building is also in ruins, and the White House has been turned into a fortress. One can only hope that the President, and the rest of the government managed to escape, but so far from what’s been shown, the situation appears to be quite hopeless.

* Just everything having to do with the Cleaners. Joe Ferro was probably an average middle-class man with a family until the Dollar Flu hit. Then his angrier instincts seemed to have rushed out when his wife died and Ferro blamed the "weak government" for not doing what needed to be done to stop the spread of disease. So what does Joe do? He organizes Manhattan's blue collar workforce, they arm themselves, and they set out to utterly burn the infection out of Manhattan. They think they're saving the city, even the nation and world, with every civilian they burn and every building they torch. You can't argue reason with a zealot.

** And suppose you manage to fight and craft your way into the Dark Zone, find the anti-virus, and signal for extraction (which is by no means an easy task). Getting ready for another wave of psychos, show 'em who's top of the food chain, and go on another power trip, right? Nope. [[spoiler: You're introduced to a new faction of soldiers, known only as Hunters. Suddenly, your equipment shorts out, leaving you without your skills once again. And now fighting you isn't any of those psychos, but VideoGame/SplinterCell-like soldiers who take advantage of your skills being Disrupted, while using that same Shade tech to shut you down. Don't let their lack of armor fool you, because the moment they find cover, they'll quickly recover any health they lost and proceed to run you down. Adding to this disturbing discovery is that they decorated with [[BattleTrophy Division smart-watches]]. Either these are elites among elites within the Last Man Battalion, or they are Rogue First-Wave Agents, who're trying to stop you from making off with that anti-virus. The worst part of all this is that [[NothingIsScarier you never get any explanation or even hints as to why specifically they try and stop that anti-virus from leaving...]]]]

* The potential of Dollar Flu is some high quality ParanoiaFuel; a nation nearly killed itself without the usage of any outside threat. Itself a contagious lethal threat that is hard to detect among thousands of populace.

* Survival Mode brings this all in full force. You and several other agents are sent to the Dark Zone via chopper to investigate a possible anti-virus, meaning that it's priority is understandably put above everything, including personnel safety. Problem is, New York's being hit with the mother of all blizzards. Soon enough, your chopper is taken down by a ''flying billboard''. When you finally come to, your hazmat suit is torn, and you're now infected with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepsis sepsis]]. And it all goes downhill from there...

** And suppose you manage to fight and craft your way into the Dark Zone, find the anti-virus, and signal for extraction (which is by no means an easy task). Getting ready for another wave of psychos, show 'em who's top of the food chain, and go on another power trip, right? Nope. [[spoiler: Suddenly, your equipment shorts out, leaving you without your skills once again. And now fighting you isn't any of those psychos, but two VideoGame/SplinterCell-like soldiers who take advantage of your skills being Disrupted. Don't let their lack of armor fool you, because the moment they find cover, they'll quickly recover any health they lost and proceed to run you down. Adding to this disturbing discovery the glow of their gear, the Division's signature orange glow, implies that these are Rogue Agents who're trying to stop you from making off with that anti-virus. The worst part of all this is that [[NothingIsScarier you never get any explanation or even hints as to why specifically they try and stop that anti-virus from leaving...]]]]

* The Clear Sky Incursion has the Rikers taking over an abandoned LMB anti-air missile site! The fact that they'll gladly shoot down any air support for shits and giggles is a terrifying idea, regardless who you are!

** If you don't think [[spoiler:Aaron Keener]] has gone crazy yet, then one of the ECHO showing [[spoiler:him hanging JTF soldier with a crane, with corpses of other task force personnel and Rikers alike lying around]] will change you mind.

* The potential of Dollar Flu is some high quality ParanoiaFuel; a nation nearly killed itself without the usage of any outside threat. Itself hard to detect and lethal and contagious.

** What's most frightening is that due to the nature of The Division as a de-centralized, stay-behind force that operates on near-total self-sufficiency (cells of four Agents maximum, at most), you're looking at a heavily armed, highly-trained force with extremely advanced technology that answers to absolutely ''no one''. This ultimately includes their own command structure. Totalitarian secret police? Bad. Totalitarian secret police that operate with such impunity that, should they decide to do things for their own selfish motivations, up to and including terrorist activities, that the people supposedly in charge of them can do nothing about it? That's ''horrifying''.