Deus Ex Diaries Part Eighty-One (Jensen’s Stories)

This is my ongoing exploration of the Deus Ex Universe, in release order. Whether you’re a newcomer or an old-goer, I hope to make this something you can read along with and enjoy. This time I continue Deus Ex: Mankind Divided — A Criminal Past.

Having gone undercover at The Pent House, I had found my way to B-block to meet with a fellow agent…

Crossing the ceiling struts, I climbed down through a ventilation shaft to a security room. A guard was patrolling, so I got the drop on him and knocked him out before turning the windows black to hide us. I then did the same to the windows in the office next door before having a look around. A pocket secretary told me that “Oscar Mejia”, AKA my contact Agent Hector Guerrero, was scheduled to clean the showers, so I knew where to find him.

Realising that I had a Praxis point, I upgraded my Hacking Capture so that I could unlock the security terminal and disable the cameras and security panel. That still left the turrets online, but I hoped to avoid those. As I still had to see Red Shoes for Frederick Flossy, I left through the back door, avoiding cameras and a patrolling guard. I was trying to find a way around, but it proved difficult as I couldn’t even blend in in the yard since I had a different prisoner outfit on.

At the end of the passageway was a ladder and an office — and the office had an unlocked security terminal! So, I disabled the cameras and alarms, then raided the weapons locker, snatching the tranquiliser rifle from inside. I climbed up the ladder and knocked out the sniper, grabbing their 10mm pistol and attaching a silencer that I’d found earlier. I also swapped the ammo for EMP rounds, as I didn’t want to kill anyone, and it would let me disable cameras and turrets.

Heading back down the passageway to the security room, I had to consider my options. I was on the third floor, and there were multiple guards between me and the showers. It also transpired that the scene of inmate Ian Wilburg’s death was still under investigation, so assuming I reached the ground floor without issue, I still had to get past them, right in front of the shower room.

Well, as it happens, it was much easier than I thought, as I had the EMP rounds and the tranq rifle. I used the 10mm to disable the turret watching the stairs to my left, went down a flight, then shot the guards from the stairway with the tranquiliser darts. Shooting them anywhere but the head resulted in a delayed knockout and meant that I could (swiftly) shoot multiple guards before they were alerted!

In “Oscar Mejia”’s cell was a note reminding him about shower duty, which I already knew about, but also a hidden ventilation shaft leading to a hallway just off of the yard. There was a laser grid, but the terminal to disable it was right next to it. A hatch in the wall led me through a ventilation shaft to behind the security tower in the yard of B-block, which was just where I had wanted to sneak. One of the direct routes into the yard was a non-starter because of the drones, cameras, and guards, but nipping out of the gate on the right-hand side got me to the cool-off cage inhabited by Red Shoes.

Handing over the biocell from Flossy, Red Shoes asked if “it” was happening now, so clearly, this was leading up to a prison riot. He used the biocell, and I was almost spotted on my way back to the grate I had climbed out of. Before going down, however, I went up the ladder and knocked out the guard. One less to deal with when the riot began, I figured. There was also an unlocked security terminal, so I used it to deactivate the cameras and electrified fences.

With that done, I headed back into B-block and checked out the scene of Wilburg’s death. I had to shoot the turret a few times with EMP rounds as I looked around but noticed part of the security bot was sparking. Upon checking it, I pulled off an “old-school hacking device”, which was suspicious as all get out.

Entering the shower room, I quickly met up with Hector Guerrero and traded passphrases to confirm who I was. However, he wasn’t happy about me coming to contact him based on a “potential” threat. I pushed him on it, saying that I didn’t want to risk the lives of multiple pro-Aug groups across the USA. TF29’s information had come from two members of the Junkyard gang, Dembrowski and Martin. Unfortunately, Guerrero knew the two and compared them to Laurel and Hardy planning the moon landings.

Our conversation was interrupted by Thomas Stenger kicking the doors open, two of his men accompanying him. There was some tension between Stenger and Guerrero, but I got no details other than the security chief calling me a friend before arresting Guerrero for the murder of Wilburg. We were both tased, but as I blacked out, I could hear Stenger telling off his man…

Waking to the sound of alarms, I found myself in a security office with Stenger and a guard. He dismissed the guard, wanting a quiet word with me, snapping when asked “what about the riot”, which explained the alarms… When the guard left, Stenger apologised for me getting shocked; it was a mistake because Junkyard didn’t tell him that I was coming. Deciding to play along, I let him tell me why I was there — as it turned out, he figured I was there to deal with “Mejia” for putting the operation at risk, so I asked for an update. He told me that once the riot was quelled, the merchandise would just be lying out in the open. Clearly, he meant augmentations and intended on killing the inmates.

Stenger went on to tell me that “Mejia” was in solitary waiting to be dealt with. He refused to let me go and talk to the prisoner, mainly because there was a riot on, and got in some veiled racism in the process because Flossy was leading things and was black. As if we hadn’t gathered that Stenger was scum… A guard came in to say that the cell block was clear, and the inmates were heading for the admin building. Stenger was sure that a response team would be able to deal with things just before Flossy came over the public address system to insult the security head, so he left to deal with that. Unfortunately, leaving the office would mean the security guards would be after me…