Cleaners

The Cleaners are New York City sanitation workers-garbageman, public facility janitors, park custodians, street cleaners, water treatment plant operators, etc. - whose jobs in better times were devoted to keeping neighborhoods and infrastructure clean. Many commuted to work from outside the city but got trapped in the urban quarantine zones during the early days of the plague. Others were inner-city dwellers who lost loved ones during the outbreak.

They are one of the major enemy factions in Tom Clancy's The Division and an enemy faction in Tom Clancy's The Division 2.

Responding to what they perceived as the shameful failure of local and federal authorities to protect their health and families, a number of these blue-collar city workers banded together to take matters into their own hands. Organized and armed by Manhattan's sanitation supervisor. Joe Ferro. The Cleaners aimed to eradicate the mutant smallpox virus. Their chosen method of killing is donning flamethrowers fueled by napalm. The Cleaners incinerated anything and anyone suspected of carrying the disease. This often included perfectly healthy survivors exposed to the virus.

The fanatical faction was initially hindered by CERA's quarantine lines and checkpoints. But nobody knew the bowels of the burrow - the sewers, drainage tunnels, and subway lines - like Joe Ferro and his followers. Armed with flamethrowers, fire axes, firebombs, and firearms, they traversed the city's underground passages, bypassing roadblocks and perimeter barricades with ease. Their philosophy was to burn everything that had contact with the virus.

Their faction spread quickly, driven by Ferro's belief that "the sick are already dead". One file recovered from the Cleaners' headquarters site revealed phone-video footage of a civilian captured and burnt alive by a Cleaner. All Division agents learned to proceed with extra caution in Cleaner-occupied territories, often identified by the presence of the faction's distinctive yellow garbage trucks, burning piles of corpses, and charred streets.

Eventually, after The Division's decimation of their ranks (including Joe Ferro) and the destruction of their napalm facility, the Cleaners no longer posed a major threat to the JTF and citizenry of New York. Still, remnants of the Cleaners patrol the streets.

However, the Cleaners recovered with the help of Vivian Conley, one of Aaron Keener's lieutenants. They launched an attack on Coney Island while Black Tusk was distracted by the attack of The Division. They ruled over lower Manhattan, along with the Rikers, but thanks to the division, fell apart once again after the death of Conley, the loss of all bases and napalm production.

Intelligence Brief
A roaming faction, the Cleaners can appear in many districts; all agents should proceed with extra caution, especially in Cleaner-occupied territories. The Cleaners consists of construction and sanitation workers that felt abandoned when the government and JTF pulled out and left them to defend themselves and die. Trapped in the quarantine zones, they decided to take matters into their own misguided hands. Armed with flamethrowers, fire axes, and firebombs, they travel from one area to another hoping to cleanse the city of the virus. A video recovered from the Napalm Production Site shows footage of a civilian's phone which shows that she is burnt alive by a Cleaner when she was caught at the site. To identify their territories, agents are advised to keep a lookout for yellow-colored garbage trucks.

Their weaponry is more advanced than the Rioters, consisting of assault rifles, SMGs, Snipers, Shotguns and pistols, however also sporting homemade munitions and weapons, such as flamethrowers and incendiary grenades. They use more homemade weaponry than any other factions but the Outcasts.

Eight months after the outbreak, the remaining Cleaners allied themselves with two Rogue Division agents, Vivian Conley and Javier Kajika. Conley helped the Cleaners upgrade their utilities and weapons, and now they are deadlier than ever. They have new gear, a base of operations, and even working vehicles and fuel production, as they can be seen all over Lower Manhattan.

At the start of the manhunt, Vivian Conley was the leader of the Cleaners. Unknown to the Cleaners, she also does dealing with fellow Rogue Division Agent s, Aaron Keener, James Dragov, Javier Kajika and Theo Parnell.

However, with Conley dead, and the Tanker lost, the Cleaners are now scattered. Prior to Warlords of New York, Conley gave some of her Cleaners to Henderson as a backup for her offensive against the Division in D.C.

Tactics
When fighting Cleaners, agents should keep a distance from them, as most Cleaners are equipped with flamethrowers and can easily burn and kill with them. Using long-range weapons is recommended. If a member of the Cleaners is shot enough in the gas tank backpack, it will explode and damage them severely, or kill them depending on their level. However, not all Cleaners wear gas tanks such as Mechanics and Shields.

The Sweeper class will usually pin down their targets while another Sweeper rushes up to burn them. The Fumigators, being the Grenadier archetype, will lob incendiary grenades, and at higher levels (31 and 32), gas grenades at enemies in cover and will sometimes assist in pinning down the target. Mechanics will rush to cover when combat starts and will place a crude turret on top of the cover. Once the turret is down, the Mechanic will then engage with his Shotgun. If the Mechanic is killed, and the turret isn't destroyed, the turret will fire at enemies randomly until stopping, which it is then destroyed. Shield wielders will rush the target with a shield and fire ax, and won't stop until they are killed. Incinerators are rare, but they are the toughest enemy that can be encountered in Cleaner areas. They slowly shamble towards their target or will run-up to it if not close enough to attack. The flamethrowers they wield will have a pretty far range and can dish out a lot of damage in a single spew. Controllers used to be encountered only in the Amherst's Apartment and the Napalm Production Site missions, but since the Clear Sky update, they are now a more common sight - particularly in Search and Destroy missions and High-Value Target Ops.

In the Division 2, the Cleaners return. They are now even more skilled in guerrilla warfare, and particularly in building technology and producing fuel for their goals. Their tactics are much more aggressive and focus on co-ordinated offensives - their weapons may be makeshift, but these Cleaners are hardened guerrillas. Throwers appear to utilise a form of oil gas that is refined from crude oil retrieved from the stranded tanker, while engineers appear to use a crude oil variant in their turrets to form Napalm. However, they act rather similar, if not more aggressive. Assaults and Rushers are found on the front lines, utilising weaponry to keep their targets off balance. Engineers, Controllers, and Tanks are found at mid range, keeping the targets suppressed. Snipers are rare, but are formidable foes, utilising marksman rifles, shotguns, and a small RC car packed with explosives to knock a target out of cover. Ranged combat is recommended for Agents dealing with Cleaners, as much of their weaponry is useless at range. However, do not underestimate the range of a Cleaner napalm turret, grenade launcher, or flamethrower - they have a surprisingly long range and do serious damage. Extreme caution is recommended when entering Cleaner controlled territiory.

Relationship with other factions
Although it is never stated in-game and with little interaction (aside from skirmishes), the Cleaners would have most likely thought of the other warring factions as a detriment to their goal of cleansing the city of the virus as they would only get in the Cleaners way.

In regards to the JTF, they believe the JTF are weak and soft and thus unable to handle the situation. Compared to them the Cleaners believe they are capable of making the hard choices and doing what needs to be done for the greater good. At the end of Dragon's Nest, Roy Benitez admits he understands their intentions and goals but still views their methods as sick and twisted. He is also genuinely impressed and disturbed by their resourcefulness.

Any animosity they have with the other factions would have likely been resolved by the time of Resistance as they joined forces with remnants of the Rioters, Rikers, and Last Man Battalion to combat the JTF and Division agents as well as to hunt down Aaron Keener.

They seem to hold a big grudge towards Black Tusk after being manipulated into believing that Vitaly Tchernenko was the one responsible for creating Green Poison and wanting revenge.