Vanguard is the third season that is available in Year 5 of Tom Clancy's The Division 2.
Manhunt: Finding Agent Kelso[]
After Division agents re-secured stability in the White House, Agent Kelso returned to New York to ensure the Haven settlement was also secure. But while agents were rescuing civilians abducted by the Black Tusk, Kelso had gone missing. Meanwhile, The Division now faces the harsh reality that Hunters are among them, raising doubt and suspicion in both the White House and Castle Settlements. Agent must now find Kelso, but as they retrace her steps, more truths will be uncovered, reopening some old wounds.
Storyline[]
This article contains spoilers that may spoil some of or most of the game. Proceed with caution! |
In the aftermath of Agent Brian Johnson's defeat and the revelation that he was the Recruiter for the Hunter Program, suspicions and doubt would arise among friendly settlements over whether Agent Alani Kelso can be trusted as well as dealing with the reality that Hunters are embedded in the Division. Whilst Natalya Sokolova hijacked speakers to spread her propaganda, Roy Benitez informed Manny Ortega that Agent Kelso is missing. Under orders from Manny, Division agents return to New York to investigate her whereabouts. The first footage they got from Haven's security systems reveals that while Kelso was resting up, she decided to pick up a trail when the ANNA system asked "Cassandra" to claim her prize.
Agents combed through the four areas of Lower Manhattan; Civic Center, Two Bridges, Financial District, and Battery Park in attempts to find Kelso while eliminating BTSU's squads sent after her. After investigating the Financial District, Division agents found another footage of Kelso investigating a safehouse. Inside, it shows an ECHO of Rogue Agent Aaron Keener meant for "Cassandra", who happened to be Faye Lau. Both agents were secretly working together in hopes to bring down the Black Tusk and the Hunters through a special SHD crate found in the safehouse. However, due to Kelso lacking the two-factor authentication, she was shocked and left unconscious.
Not long after investigating Kelso's whereabouts in Battery Park, her location got pinged at the Stranded Tanker. In a race against time, Division agents went there fighting against Black Tusk and True Sons forces who were under explicit orders by Natalya Sokolova to intercept and capture "Cassandra". Despite being beset by high-ranking BTSU and True Sons officers, including a Hunter who was sent to avenge Brian Johnson, The Division prevailed. Inside the tanker, they find that SHD Crate and under behest from Kelso, they attempt to open it. Like with Kelso earlier, they were shocked and rendered unconscious. Shockingly, Aaron Keener got there (seemingly returned from the dead), cloned the ANNA system to his watch and opened the crate which had a briefcase inside and took it with him. Alongside Kelso and Theo Parnell (who also seemingly returned from the dead), they took off from Lower Manhattan through a van, supposedly leaving for Brooklyn.
Upon returning to Haven, Division agents would find an audio log that was sent by Keener. He explains to the agents that his supposed "death" was fake, as the ISAC system only said "Agent Deceased" explicitly and never confirmed the identification, heavily implying that the Keener they took out in Liberty Island was a decoy. And throughout the comms collected during the investigation, it's also explained that Theo Parnell survived his ordeal in the Tombs through using a copy of ANNA and a decoy to deceive ISAC. This made The Division as well as Black Tusk believe both Keener and Parnell were dead the whole time, allowing the two time to work on deploying the Rogue Network nationally through the use of Mobile SHD Servers. Indeed, the Rogue Network was activated by ANNA through Keener's watch when Division agents were investigating the SHD crate in the tanker.
In any case, Keener believes that The Division is compromised with a single-minded belief that many good and innocent people would die as long the current state of things stay their course. Therefore, he sent the audio log to Division agents in hopes that they'll see the light like Kelso did and join him to put an end to the schemes set by Calvin McManus and Natalya Sokolova.
Regardless, it seems that Agent Kelso is now rogue and working with Keener and Parnell. During the investigation, she left a series of notes to Division agents so Black Tusk and Hunters don't intercept their comms. In those notes, she explained her motives, feeling guilt over her part in Faye Lau's death and her alliance with Keener and Parnell is out of necessity so she could finish what Lau started and end the war against Sokolova and McManus once and for all.
Project Resolve[]
A comprehensive update that was added to this season, focused on enhancing the game's health and stability, as well as laying groundwork for future content. This included improving PvE/PvP, quality of life updates, and thousands of bug fixes.
Trivia[]
- Due to the work needed in implementing Project Resolve for Year 5, Season 3: Vanguard, the upcoming story DLC set in Brooklyn, New York was delayed to 2025.
- Due to the delay, the latest roadmap details Year 6's seasonal content, promising more quality of life updates and a new endgame structure referred to as Seasons 2.0.