“ We serve at the pleasure of the President, we work for Homeland, we work for Cal. It doesn't matter if ISAC thinks you're on mission, the minute you allied with Kelso, you went Rogue. You think I'm evil because I'm a Hunter.
We're the only ones still on mission. If an agent steps out of line, we're here to clean up the mess.- Johnson, as he is about to face the agents”
Brian Johnson, also known as The Recruiter was a former Strategic Homeland Division agent turned member and designated recruiter for Calvin McManus's mysterious Hunter Program, as well as the Prime Target of Puppeteers.
After the events at Coney Island Amusement Park and Camp White Oak, which resulted in deaths of one of his fellow Hunters and Faye Lau, The Recruiter was tasked by McManus to observe and train B.T.S.U. Operative Jack Bonney as a potential candidate for the program.
History[]
Like many kids growing up in Santa Cruz, Brian Johnson too up surfing at an early age, and he was set on becoming a professional. But a bad breakup had him rashly enlisting in the navy and later joining the Police Department in Baltimore, where he became a sniper with their quick response team.
He was recruited by the Strategic Homeland Division along the way, and he spent the early days of the outbreak trying to combat the growing chaos while watching his friends succumb to the disease. In that time, Brian saw things that emotionally scarred him deeply, and he's still processing that trauma.
The early days of the outbreak were hard days for Brian. All his friends in Baltimore, especially at the BPD died and he stayed at Fort Meade, trying to forget those terrible things. Some day, two Division agents arrived at the Fort. They introduced them as Caleb Dunne and Heather Ward. They need help to decrypt a device which should hold information on Mantis. Meeting Ward and Dunne was a good thing for Brian, seeing their clear sense of mission was a huge motivation for him. He realized that there was no more time to hide and think about the bad days of the early outbreak and all the sad happenings during this time. He got back his self-confidence and his strength.
He pushed aside the bad memories and after a few days with Dunne and Ward he was fully briefed on Mantis and so he decided to join them on their mission.
Not long after his arrival in Washington, D.C., Agent Johnson mysteriously disappeared, leading his fellow agents Heather Ward and Caleb Dunne to believe he either went Rogue or was killed. It was neither, Johnson, being loyal to Calvin McManus's ideals, ended up joining the Hunter Program through unknown means and becoming one of their highest ranking officers.
After the events of Warlords of New York, he was directly tasked by Calvin McManus to train and observe Jack Bonney as potential recruit for the program, giving him access to an SHD Smart Watch with Classified Status, as well as access to the Hunters' Unidentified network. During a mission to Jefferson Trade Center, The Recruiter, accompanied by Bonney's B.T.S.U., would slaughter most of Captain Frederick Lewis's True Sons, leaving him as the sole survivor, who would later team up with The Division.
As Division agents stormed the facility and slowly took down the B.T.S.U. operatives, he would often make himself known, appearing from time to time only to taunt the agents, disappearing in a cloud of blue smoke whenever the agents got too close.
Despite Bonney's confidence and efforts to impress his superior, he was eventually killed in action by the agents, even with the help of the Recruiter's SHD Tech, leaving the Hunter to disappear once more in his cloud of blue colored smoke.
The Recruiter is mentioned once again when he escorted the hostage John Yazzie and gave him to Gabriel "Dynamite" Gonzalez. Later, when the agents are rescuing Mari Singh at the Manning National Zoo, The Recruiter can be seen in a blue smoke-screen on top of a balcony, simply watching as the agents extract the hostage after having killed B.T.S.U. operative Felicity "Panther" Lee.
After the successful rescue of Mari Singh, he would take a more active role in dealing with the remaining hostages, as the Hunter would now be hunted down himself.
The following days after Mari's rescue, The Recruiter would be responsible for overseeing the escort of captured hostages Cindy McAllister, Mel Arnold, Jack Arnold, Vikram Malik and his sister "Birdie". Simultaneously, Johnson would show up at the Castle Settlement and pretend to help to agents with each of the rescues, not showing his true intentions, which were to gain their trust in order to recover the mobile SHD server and bring it to Natalya Sokolova.
After the rescue of Vikram Malik, Johnson and the agents go to Camp White Oak in order to rescue his sister, "Birdie", bringing the server with them. Amidst instabilities in the server and the agents assault on the Black Tusk and True Sons soldiers at the camp, Birdie reveals to the agents she was told by Sokolova that the Division and Black Tusk were now allies, and she was sent there alongside agent Johnson, who she reveals that Johnson was the traitor to the Division cause.
Johnson, after realizing that his cover was blown due to Birdie's info, and in a desperate attempt to escape Camp White Oak with the stolen server, engages the agents in combat while waiting for the extraction helicopter sent by Natalya. During the fight, Johnson is mostly protected by his SHD Defender Drone, leading Birdie to use the Black Tusk's countermeasure to deactivate both his and the agents' SHD tech, leaving him temporarily vulnerable. After a tough battle, the Sheriff heads back into the lodge, leaving Johnson to be hit by a mortar strike sent by Birdie, collapsing on the floor and succumbing from his injuries.
Abilities[]
In-game, The Recruiter is a unique Hunter armed with a TAC-50 C Rifle marksman rifle, Custom P416 G3 assault rifle, SHD Defender Drone, Jammer Pulse and Airburst Incendiary Grenades.
Trivia[]
- During his brief appearances in Season 9 and Year 5 Season 1, The Recruiter's re-used the Crimson Hunter's (nicknamed "Jiang Ziya") name, model, weapons and skills. Later, in Year 5 Season 2, his appearance was remodelled to have his own unique look (this included changing his in-game model in his previous appearances).
- Prior to his design change in Y5S2, The Recruiter was depicted as a Hunter armed with a Black Market M60 E6, Tactical UMP-45, SHD Bombardier Drones, SHD Riot Foam Chem-Launcher, Jammer Pulse and Concussion Grenades. He also had a Striker Drone that hovers in place beside him, but neither him nor his drone engage the player directly.
- Prior to the Y5S2.1 Update, The Recruiter could be seen (already in his new design) holding an M1A CQB, this was swapped for a TAC-50 C Rifle to match with the season's launch trailer.
- During his appearance in Jefferson Trade Center Manhunt: Captain Lewis, the Recruiter never engages the player directly, only sending modified EMP Drones to aid Jack Bonney and the Black Tusk during their fight against the Division.
- However, it is possible to prompt him to attack the player on extremely rare instances.
- Despite never being mentioned in the mission's dialogue, the Recruiter does appear at the very end of Manning National Zoo: Save Mari Singh, right after the player shoots the flare to call Torres for extraction. He appears in a blue smoke screen on the window of the overlook where Felicity "Panther" Lee was previously at.
- Brian Johnson had appeared commercially in Ubisoft's live action trailer of [THE DIVISION 2 - DRAWING LIVE ACTION TRAILER], [THE DIVISION 2 - GOOD GUY LIVE ACTION TRAILER] and [Clancy's The Division 2: Official Cinematic TV Spot | Ubisoft [NA]] [Clancy's The Division 2: E3 2019 Episode 3 Teaser Trailer | Ubisoft [NA]]
- Since Episode 3 Teaser Trailer was the last appearance of Brian Johnson as a Division Agent, It is presumed that during his travel to New York with Caleb Dunne and Heather Ward, Brian manage to somehow join the Hunters.
- Brian Johnson was commercially featured as a statue figurine and as an action/articulated figurine.
- It is still unknown why ISAC did not detect the Hunter network whenever Johnson showed up at the Castle Settlement prior to the reveal of his identity as The Recruiter.
Gallery[]
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Missions[]
- Jefferson Trade Center Manhunt: Captain Lewis
- Manning National Zoo: Save Mari Singh
- Camp White Oak: The Recruiter