Aaron Keener

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>  | *I'm talking common sense! Look around! There is nothing left to save! The JTF is trying to save a Manhattan that doesn't exist anymore. It is all about power now. Power and Survival. They are done but I am not. And you won't be either. Not if you work with me.*
>  **- Aaron Keener to a First Wave Agent** | ”
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## Aaron Keener

### Occupation

Leader of the Rogue Agents
United States Navy (Formerly)
Futures Trader (Formerly)

### Education

The Citadel Military College
SHD Basic Training

### Factions

Strategic Homeland Division (Formerly)
Last Man Battalion (Formerly)
Black Tusk (Formerly)
Rogue Division Agents

### People

Charles Bliss (Formerly)
Dolores Jones (Formerly)

### Rogues

Vivian Conley
Javier Kajika
James Dragov
Theo Parnell
Molly Henderson
Chadwick Brandon lll
Lucy Anders
Mary Masters
Ryan Chang
Carter Leroux
Lori Baker
Tegan Silver
Elija Le
Jason Barnes
Scarecrow
Raptor
Domino

### Weapons Used

* Police M4
* CMMG Banshee
* Concussion Grenades
* Flashbang Grenades
* Riot Foam Grenades
* Nearly every SHD Skill

**Aaron Keener**, call-sign "Vanguard", was a First Wave Strategic Homeland Division agent who, after the Joint Task Force's disastrous surrender and retreat from the Dark Zone, disavowed The Division and went rogue. Recruiting a number of other First Wave agents to his cause and killing those who resisted, he developed his own ambitions for establishing order and a future for the country or possibly the world, even if he is branded a traitor to do it.

## Early Life

Keener graduated from The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, before serving in the US Navy as a Coastal Riverine Squadron small boat operator and weapons expert. He served a tour of duty fighting the war on drugs in South America, and at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. He has a mild reputation as the sarcastic, yet charismatic individual. His military experience and education in military treatise and psychology made him an excellent candidate for The Division. Eventually, Keener and his army buddy Carter Leroux was contacted by Division recruiter Elija Le to join The Division. Keener and Leroux passed the psychological tests, they were then given Smart Watches and joined The Division.

Keener is noted to combine his military experience and decision-making skill to achieve extensive success in the private sector. Upon leaving the military, Keener took up a job as a futures trader on Wall Street. Keener is labelled to be adaptable and confident, where he always assumes that he is going to come out on top.

Keener is twice divorced. However, he maintains friendly relationships with both ex-wives. One of them has described Keener as too much work to keep up with.

Keener also has a privileged upbringing and has never faced real adversity. Despite this, he has been able to overcome any obstacle through a combination of willpower and intelligence. Keener also has a personable character, enabling him to get others to work together to achieve his goals.

Keener was thus noted to be a "potentially prototypical candidate" for joining The Division. This is probably due to his intellect as a person, as well as his military expertise from his time in military school as well as his time serving the military.

## First Wave

Keener was part of the First Wave of Division agents to be activated after the outbreak of Green Poison. One of his objectives given by The Division was to secure what would be known as the Dark Zone, constructed to contain the infected citizens. However, CERA and Joint Task Force lost control of the Dark Zone quickly after its establishment and ordered all forces to pull out at all costs, including Keener and his fellow First Wave agents, forcing them to leave behind expensive equipment and any hope of ever establishing order in the region.

During the JTF's retreat, Aaron was leading a group of civilians out of the Dark Zone when they were ambushed by a group of Rikers. Keener sheltered the civilians in an apartment building and fended off the overwhelming number of Rikers all by himself. He radioed the JTF for reinforcements but was denied despite explaining his situation. One of the Rikers then threw a Molotov cocktail into the building, killing everyone inside except for Keener who managed to escape.

These incidents changed Keener's perspective of the federal government and left him disenchanted with his role as a Division agent, feeling a great deal of anger and betrayal. As such, he made the choice of turning rogue against The Division.

## The First Rogue

His first actions after turning rogue were to gather as many First Wave agents as possible, intending to form a unit of rogue agents to work for him in future operations. Agents who chose not to ally with him were executed by Keener in cold blood, and eventually, the entirety of the First Wave went missing or was killed. This event had triggered The Division to deploy the Second Wave of agents to investigate what had happened to the First Wave, coupled with continuing the mission to restore order in New York.

Keener met Charles Bliss, the commanding officer of the Last Man Battalion. Keener wanted to make use of the Last Man Battalion to establish dominance over Manhattan, while Bliss wanted to take advantage of Keener's SHD technology to get an advantage over other factions controlling Manhattan. Together, Keener and the Last Man Battalion had launched many operations against belligerent factions, including the JTF.

One of the joint operations conducted in the bombing of an osprey helicopter carrying the Second Wave of Division agents into Manhattan, killing everyone aboard, including the Division Commander tasked with leading the Second Wave. The bombing also resulted in Senior Agent Faye Lau being critically injured, as well as knocking Agent Megan Collins unconscious.

## Traitor

While conducting the operations with the Last Man Battalion, Keener also investigated the outbreak on his own, eventually discovering that Gordon Amherst was responsible for the Outbreak. After Faye Lau discovered several bodies of the First Wave agents, clues pointing to Aaron Keener started to emerge. After storming the NYPD Police Academy, Collins first caught a glimpse of Keener through a recovered CCTV footage, which showed Keener convincing a fellow agent to defect after the JTF and Division’s disastrous and costly failure to hold the Dark Zone.

Later on, Collins and her Division unit were tasked to save Dr. Vitaly Tchernenko from the Russian Consulate. Keener was contacted by Tegan Silver, a follower of Keener's cause, citing an assault on the consulate was imminent. Keener contacted fellow rogue Carter Leroux and warned him about it. Despite the Division's efforts, the LMB and Leroux held the Division back long enough to extract Tchernenko.

However, once the JTF and The Division stormed the U.N. Headquarters to drive out the LMB and eliminate Bliss (with a secondary object to find Tchernenko and Keener), an ECHO revealed that Keener saw that the LMB were finished and instead took Tchernenko with him while ordering two other rogue agents, Raptor and Domino, to stall the Second Wave agents and also jam The Division tracking hardware to prevent them following him, after which they would regroup at another location.

After Bliss was killed and the U.N. Headquarters was secured by the JTF, another ECHO revealed that Keener had found Amherst's lab, as well as some virus samples, a 3D DNA printer, as well as Amherst's notebook. Following on from an earlier discussion he had with another First Wave agent, he stole as much as he could put into a duffel bag, then left a message (via his hacked SHD Tech) for any Second Wave agent who picked up the signal and then took off.

## Preparations

While the Division was distracted in Washington DC and with the Black Tusk, Keener made preparations for his final plans. Keener found Lori Baker, a Rogue Division agent and a field surgeon. Keener asked Baker to join the team and told him that they are going to eradicate the weak. Baker accepted his proposition. Later, Keener went back to the Russian Consulate at some point, to retrieve the injured Leroux. Right after he took him to Baker. Leroux promised Keener he won't fail him again and Baker nursed him back to good health.

He also made contact with several other rogues, including Molly Henderson, Javier Kajika, Vivian Conley, James Dragov, and Theo Parnell. With Vitaly Tchernenko in his custody and with the possession of Dr. Amherst's notes of the Green Poison, he engineered his own deadly biological virus 'The Eclipse'. He then went on to take control of four districts in Lower Manhattan and each of the four districts are given to his four rogue agents. He managed to secure an understanding between the Cleaners and the Rikers, with both serving as allies in his plans.

## Coney Island

After Vitaly Tchernenko successfully engineered the Eclipse, Keener gave Vitaly to a battalion of Black Tusk, in exchange for support in his future projects, according to him. It is still uncertain what Keener wants from the Black Tusk, but one thing however certain is that Keener intended on double-crossing the Black Tusk all along. During or before his deal with the Black Tusk, he lied to Vivian Conley, a Rogue Division agent and the current leader of the Cleaners, claiming that the Black Tusk had Tchernenko all along, and told Conley to bring her Cleaners to kill all the Black Tusk on Coney Island as well as Tchernenko so she and the Cleaners can have their revenge.

After Conley sent her Cleaners on Coney Island to kill Tchernenko, and a squad of Division agents from Washington, D.C. raided the Island, Aaron fled during the chaos, once again one step ahead of everyone.

Alongside four of his fellow four rogue agents, Keener attacked The Division's Base of Operations in Manhattan killing several Division Agents and JTF.

## Manhunt

Aaron Keener, along with his four Rogue Division agents, launched biological attacks on multiple sites in New York City limits, mainly targeted Joint Task Force facilities and highly populated areas.

Faye Lau, acting commander of The Division in New York, requested emergency help from Washington, D.C. Division Agent Alani Kelso, alongside Megan Collins, Bruce McGregor, and Richard Parker, traveled to New York City to assist with the situation. Having difficulty tracking the rogue agents with the limited data, the Division began tracking the rogue agents with intel from the Peacekeepers. In the meantime, Keener prepared his endgame for the world. With Dragov providing the supplies, and Parnell with his technological expertise, Keener was able to build Ground to Air missiles for spreading the Eclipse virus, more lethal forms of SHD Technology and a Rogue Agent network called A.N.N.A.

## Last Stand

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>  | *You Useless Brainwashed Puppet!! You have no idea what you have just done!*
>  **- Aaron Keener, upon Seeing his Work Destroyed** | ”
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After the Division defeated Keener's rogues, they were able to give the rogue smartwatches for Faye Lau to pinpoint Keener's exact location, tracking him to Liberty Island. Agent Kelso and the team then proceeded to the ferry terminal for transport to the Liberty Island to kill Keener. Faye Lau revealed to be working with the Black Tusk, told Bardon Schaeffer where Keener is located at, which led to Schaeffer sending Black Tusk forces on the ferry terminal to stop the agents from killing Keener before he could.

After an unsuccessful interception for the Division agents at the ferry terminal, Schaeffer launched a missile attack on the Division agents' ferry, destroying the boat, but the agents survived. Keener watched the whole thing through cams, then he hacked into the SHD Network and teased the agents.

Schaeffer sent a Black Tusk battalion to kill Keener, while Parker, McGregor, and Collins battled the overwhelming ground forces. Schaeffer then sent a Razorback drone platform to kill Keener, which the agents managed to disable. In a final attempt to kill Keener, Schaeffer sent his last Marauder Class Quadcopter to kill the agents and Keener, alongside several elite Black Tusk soldiers. Keener, having advanced SHD Tech, hacked the Quadcopter and used it against the agents and the Black Tusk. The Division prevailed in eliminating the quadcopter.

After all the Black Tusk forces on the island were dead, Keener then asked the agents to meet him inside. Using ECHO, he explained to them his agenda before attacking them with his hacked SHD tech. Narrowly escaping, the agents chased Keener to outside the Statue of Liberty. Keener then attempted to launch his Ground to Air missile containing Tchernenko's new Eclipse Virus. In the final seconds, Parker managed to stop the machine. Keener, enraged at his lifelong work being destroyed, went to kill the agent.

Although Keener fought hard with his skills and techs, he was fatally wounded by Collins in the fight. Keener then attempted to escape to the pier, but his wounds were too fatal. Agents Kelso and Collins then approached Keener. Keener, having one last trick up his sleeve, activated his Rogue Agents' network, then warned the Division agents, saying "*You have no idea what is coming*", as his last breath. Collins then grabbed Keener's smartwatch, while the Rogue Network revealed that Faye Lau had gone rogue to work with the Black Tusk, while Keener's watch broadcasted the live conversation between Lau and Schaeffer.

## Personality

Aaron Keener's personality is that of high intelligence but also one that shows that he is sure of himself and right all the time, regardless of whether he's right or wrong. Keener also possesses a very strong determination and perseverance to ensure he achieves his goals. As his profile states, due to his personable character, he is capable to have other help him either achieve one of his goals or a common objective. Despite this, he still felt a sense of duty to protect the weak and innocent as he escorted a group of civilians out of the Dark Zone and fended off a group of Rikers attacking them. After being denied help and the civilians being killed by the Rikers, Aaron felt a great deal of anger and betrayal from the government as he believed he could've saved the civilians and the First Wave could've saved the Dark Zone all together had the government been more competent and allow the First Wave (as he puts it) "*to do their fucking job*". It is then he begins to lose faith in the government and any hope of restoring order in New York City.

Following his decision to go rogue and when the Second Wave starts to investigate him, Keener's personality has changed somewhat. While he still has his determination and perseverance, his attitude towards the JTF and the U.S. government has changed dramatically. He now believes that rule and law no longer exist and now the only way to survive is by obtaining power. While Keener is still a personable character, he now uses others to help achieve his own goals - regardless of either their lives or the cost to others.

By the events of Conley Island, Keener's personality had now changed considerably. Judging by his voice and also what his intentions are, it is possible that now he had developed a lust for power and possessed a sadistic trait due to his views on the government, the JTF and why The Division is wasting their time helping people "*who aren't worth it*" and should be left behind. It is possible that he may have been begun to go insane.

His words and actions indicate he has a superiority complex and a massive ego, showing contempt and derision towards anyone who doesn't share his ideologies and ambitions. With the help of the new biological weapons he has engineered, he sought to create chaos. Keener was also prone to paranoia,

In spite of his cruelty and ambitions, he does show moments of compassion on a few occasions. One of them was helping a family escape Downtown Manhattan, to the chagrin from one of his fellow Rogue Agents. He also showed kindness to Tchernenko during a failed experiment developing the Eclipse Virus, as well as reassuring Hornet after coming back from the dead due to his failure from stopping The Division in the Russian Consulate.

What's more important to Keener is leaving a legacy when he dies. Seeing the tyranny in the post-Green Poison U.S., he saw anarchy as the only solution to end it. It is why he dedicated to make the Eclipse Virus, with the intent to use it to wipe the slate clean and had Parnell develop the Rogue Network as a way for all rogue agents to enact their operations and continue his work if need be.

## Abilities

Keener was a Rogue Agent armed with a Police M4, CMMG Banshee, Concussion, Flashbang and Riot Foam Grenades and nearly every SHD Skill in the game.

These include:

* Drone (Defender, Striker, Fixer and Bombardier)
* Turret (Assault, Incinerator, Sniper and Artillery)
* Seeker-Mine (Explosive, Airburst and Mender)
* Chem-Launcher (Riot Foam, Firestarter, Oxidizer and Reinforcer)
* Firefly (Blinder)
* Hive (Stinger and Restorer)
* Trap (Shock; Hacked from the Player)
* Decoy (Holographic Distraction; Hacked from the Player)
* Pulse (Jammer and "Hacker")

Keener has also shown the ability to hack Black Tusk tech, having hacked a Marauder-Class Quadcopter and many Warhounds, turning them against The Division and the Black Tusk.