In August 20, 2023, C.E.L.L. came under contract from the United States Department of Defense and were deployed to New York City to police the evacuation in place of the military, who were currently fighting the Ceph invasion. Despite C.E.L.L.'s asserted purpose, the P.M.C. was considered to be a brutal and corrupt organization, whose soldiers were increasingly trigger-happy and unprofessional in their handling of New York. C.E.L.L. operatives were witnessed of killing Force Recon Marines, and assisting in the "sanitation" of infected civilians.