Deus Ex Diaries Part Nine

This is my ongoing exploration of the Deus Ex Universe, in preparation for when Mankind Divided arrives later this year. Whether you’re a newcomer or an old-goer, I hope to make this something you can read along with and enjoy. We continue on with Deus Ex.

Despite a literal countdown to JC’s death, since escaping UNATCO headquarters I had to also escape a Majestic 12 facility and track down a sword. So far, my trip to Hong Kong was a busy, frantic one full of murdering and lacking in consequences. With the Dragon’s Tooth Sword in my hands, I went to the Lucky Money club, operated by the Red Arrow Triad, to return it to Max Chen after some kerfuffle with a duplicitous Maggie Chow.

Standing in front of Max Chen’s desk holding a laser sword, I’ll admit that I had visions of killing him and ruling the Red Arrow Triad in his stead. I’m assuming that wouldn’t have gone exactly as I envisioned, so I spoke to him to give over the sword. However, rather than take the sword, he agreed that perhaps he could speak to the Luminous Path about how Chow had betrayed him and that they might have peace.

You'll live this time...

Speaking of peace, Majestic 12 cyborgs attacked the club, having followed me. So I allowed Red Arrow members to fight for me before wading in with my laser sword flailing. There were surprisingly few of the big, beefy cyborgs and none of them got a shot off at me before going down.

Next on my To Do list was heading over to the Luminous Path Triad and speak to Gordon Quick. Upstairs in the market, I went around the corner and spoke to him before being told that Tracer Tong was in a secret lab beneath their training room. Also, that the code for the front door was the same code to enter the secret lab. Least secure idea ever.

I went inside and down to the lab, which was behind a hidden wall inside the hidden basement.

Hide-ception!

The lab was easily three times as well equipped as the UNATCO headquarters, with a large chamber seemingly ripped from the opening scene of Half-Life. Tracer greeted me and told me that he could stop the killswitch -- now with 16 hours gone -- and all I had to do was owe him. He sent me down to the Half-Life chamber, but not before notifying me that my friend Alex Jacobson had arrived. Quite how he got to Hong Kong without being traced by UNATCO, found Tong and won his trust, I’m uncertain, but questions I would surely ask him.

Because I went past the chamber and downstairs (yes, even further!) to find Alex. He had apparently arrived in the four hours since I myself had arrived in Hong Kong, and now had the run of the lab. Oh, and Jaime Reyes was bricking himself over being a mole, despite the fact he had as yet done nothing wrong.

With that out of the way, and all of my questions left unanswered, I went to the Half-Life chamber. Tracer activated the machine and it zapped me a bit, before he declared it a resounding success!

"You stay down there, I'll be up here in this protective viewing room"

Then he asked me for a favour: break into VersaLife. If one Triad had the Dragon’s Tooth Sword (which, neither of them did I might add -- it was still with me), then there could never be lasting peace. Which is kinda the point when you have multiple Triads… But VersaLife had originally leaked the designs for the sword, and thus it had the key to allowing multiple swords to be constructed!

I was to find Mr Hundley once inside, and get the required code from him as he had given the original blueprints to the Red Arrow Triad. I checked my email, because apparently I can only be contacted via secure super-secret email addresses everybody knows about, attached to system accounts I may not even have access to… There was one from Daedalus, who Alex suspected might be an advanced AI that was shut down years ago, and one from Alex himself.

I have no idea where he got those clothes from, JC's been in this leather jacket for going on a week...

I left Tong’s lab in high spirits, so sure of my killing abilities that I was practically whistling. I used the code I was given and went to the main reception desk. I thought I was going to get told off -- but I was welcomed and told I could explore the top three floors. Luckily, Mr Hundley was on his rounds upstairs!

I went exploring and found a bunch of office cubicles and a ventilation system, before trying to find Hundley. Surprisingly, he was the second person I spoke to. Unsurprisingly, he wanted 2000 credits for access to the basement labs. And then, only authorised access to the first level of them. I paid him, despite having used the receptionist's computer to give myself a pass -- I didn't want to risk it. Especially as the login screen literally said MJ12.

And yet everything else was so subtle!

Heading for the next level, with more cubicles, I found a lone employee. Speaking to him, I got told that he is the one who falsifies VersaLife's records. When asked why he would admit that to a stranger, he explained that the previous four people who did the job he was currently doing, had contracted the Grey Death. The big disease that was only curable for days at a time using an expensive drug called Ambrosia. As such, he figured he would get it soon, so this was a pyrrhic victory to him.

Down in the elevator to the labs, I was greeted by an excitable chap who asked if I was the guy who had just been cleared for Level-1 access. If I wasn’t, wouldn’t I still claim to be…? Anyway, I began my snooping just past the tiny piece of subtle artwork in the main hallway.

Subtle!

To the left was a hallway with a glass floor, below which was a collection of cubicles of various lab operations. Including an alien on a table! I continued until I found another ventilation system and climbed on inside. A few metres in, I was attacked by a Greasel! Scared the hell out of me and poisoned me before my laser sword was out… That dispatched, I continued.

Glass floor, perfect for secrets...

Sadly the system went up, instead of down, and I found myself above the hand-hallway in a little office-ette. I snuck around and saw a Man in Black walking away from me, down a corridor. Quickly, I checked the nearby table and hacked the security system, disabling the cameras and unlocking/opening all the doors. I then took the key from the table and hid as the MiB came back. Ready to activate my laser sword at a moment’s notice, I waited for him to go.

As he went, I followed him slowly, not wanting to alert the whole facility. He stopped in front of a lift, I went beside him and entered it as it opened. He watched me get in, from what I could tell as there was no way he didn’t see me, and I went back down to the hand-hallway.

To the right of it, I went up to see the security room with five MJ12 soldiers in it, and opposite was a room full of scientists having an argument. Being the nosey sort, of course I went inside.