Deus Ex Diaries Part Nineteen (Invisible War)

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

With this entry, I’m starting Deus Ex: Invisible War. I’ll be using the graphical mod guide found here by znokiss, but as with the last game, if you find a way to let me fight Thomas the Tank Engine, do let me know in the comments! As I couldn't get it to work on my Windows 10 gaming rig, I'm having to play it on my old Windows 7 laptop. And the game has to have trouble with F12, and thus affects my ability to get screenshots, so they are being pulled from various sources. But you're here to read about cyberpunk, and that's what I shall type!

The opening cutscene showed an attack on Chicago, where a terrorist unleashed a swarm of nanobot deconstructors, which wiped out the city in roughly five minutes flat. Just as the terrorist was doing that, the Tarsus facility had apparently predicted this, and had already begun moving all trainees to the Seattle facility, without explaining why. The last few people managed to get on the helicopter as it was leaving, saving themselves from becoming so much dust, as the city crumbled below.

Alex D. woke up in her room (I chose the default character option, which was female, though male was also an option), and took a look around before checking her holographic communicator. Much smaller than the last game, it showed what 20 years worth of technological breakthroughs can accomplish. Leila Nassif, the one in charge of trainees, begun nattering on, giving Alex orders to see her friend Billie a few rooms over, then go downstairs. Oh, and ignore the fact the building was shaking as what felt like explosions rocked the walls.

I still have no idea why there was a basketball in her lockbox...

As usual, my 'good soldier' instincts kicked in and I left the room. As I went down the hallway, a vent exploded and killed a guard right in front of me. I only say that specifically, because Alex would go on to mention it to everyone she spoke to for the next fifteen minutes.

Understandably confused, Alex asked Billie if she knew what was going on, when I reached her room. Apparently she knew nothing, other than that we should go down in the elevator, and she had been told the code for it. She wasn't going yet, however, because she had things to do. Since we were refugees from the Chicago attack, I could only wonder what exactly she had brought with her to do, but I left after having a nose around her apartment. Down the hall at the elevator, an SSC (Standard Security Corp) guard reiterated that I should ignore the explosions as he had his orders, and I had my orders. So off I went down in the elevator.

I came out in a hallway which went past the room where Leila was -- locked, like some kind of safe room. She told me to go and introduce myself to Klara Sparks and Leo Jankowski, the other two trainees, and that I would be safe in the rec room, from the nothing that was going on. Just then, she got a call from a worried bloke reporting on the same nothing she kept telling me not to worry about...

I spoke to Klara, who turned out to be quite upbeat and 'go lucky'. Apparently buildings shook like that all the time in Seattle, due to frequent construction. That certainly didn't fit what I'd seen going on... She went on, saying that she and Leo had requested to be transferred to the Seattle facility a while ago, so had been there well before the Chicago attack. It was the place you went to before being given your final assignment, so highly desired by Tarsus trainees. Alex said that her foster parents were in Chicago, but seemed about as fussed by that as JC Denton was by his brother's brutal death at the hands of Men in Black, back in Part 5 of these diaries...

Perhaps you'll find out sooner than you think...

I went and spoke to Leo, who was very much up his own arse. According to him, the vent exploding earlier was just a training exercise, and if there was any real trouble they would have definitely called him to deal with it. Two minutes with the guy and I already wanted to know his kill-phrase...

After I stopped talking to him, Leila came through my comms, telling me to get the medkit and multitools from the lockers next to the basketball court, which was below where Leo was running laps. I jumped off of the platform and went into the locker room. As I opened the locker, the lights went out and Leila told me that I had to get to the elevator so I could get to the safe room. Despite the fact the rec room was allegedly one of those...

The SSC guard near the doors told me that an Order Seeker was out there, and I should keep low and sneak out whilst she dealt with the Seeker. I told her no, we'd go shoot the hell out of the Seeker together -- so we did. That guy good and shot, I headed for the elevator, and spotted a red-head running into the office where Leila had been. I knew a red-head: Billie.

I went over and Billie told me that, in fact, this attack from the Order was because of her. She had been giving them information, after they contacted her a short while ago. Apparently we were not trainees, but experiments to be studied. Honestly, I would expect that, given the fact they filled us with augmentations and planned to let us loose at various corporations across the world. You don't want psychos like Bob Page bringing shame to your company's name.

Hmm, send him to be murdered or go and do some murder...

Billie continued, telling me to go back to the apartment block to grab some biomods for my augmentations, as there was an entry into the labs through my place thanks to The Order. Never one to disobey a person telling me to do something, I got in the elevator and went back to the apartment block. An SSC guard was there, saying that a Seeker was up ahead, and we should go blast him. He would do it alone, but in training he always had backup. I agreed and we went down to blast the guy. With him dispatched, I returned to my apartment just in time for Billie to tell me over comms "I'm going to cut the power, watch the ceiling."

Like a scene from Star Trek: Insurrection, the ceiling vanished, revealing a viewing window! With scientists up there, that I could hear chatting about me. It was as if Portal was less obvious about you being in a lab and tried to hide the viewing windows, and actually had people inside them. I had expected monitoring, probably even cameras, but not living in a zoo...

There were also apparently some huge rodents

I found the hole in my shower wall and went through, entering the labs. Billie reminded me to grab some biomods and I went over to a cupboard, next to a hologram communicator. I checked the communicator and Leila appeared, telling me that, since I'd found the lab, I might as well install some mods. The canisters were full of nanobots which could reconfigure my augmentations once installed. I checked some nearby datapads and found out about the types of augmentations, including the fact that there were some illegal ones -- the one called Robot Dominance sounded especially helpful, but wasn't available without a Black Market canister...

"You want me to inject myself with these? Sure!"

In the next room, a scientist explained that I should avoid the camera further on, as it was hooked up to the sentry gun, which was hacked by The Order to shoot everyone that wasn't them. I snuck past and upstairs, to find some more scientists who were begging for help. Alex seemed surprised that one of them knew her name -- because secret labs in the facility you're training in, generally don't have any access to your medical files...?

They needed help as Seekers were headed this way, ready and willing to kill them and take the research, possibly then being able to create augmented humans themselves. Though I'm pretty sure someone else told me that the group didn't agree with augmentation...

Back the way I came, I spotted two blokes coming up past the camera I'd passed. As they rounded the top of the stairs, I shot them. Then the camera spotted me and the turret opened fire, so I ran... Once the scientists recovered from their shock, they explained that the gold laser beams up ahead would slice me into ribbons, unless they were deactivated. As I raided the lab for more multitools, one of them continued to explain what different coloured lasers did, which would no doubt come in handy later. I also took a Black Market canister, and upgraded with that Robot Dominance upgrade that I wanted!

Stealing, ho!

After hacking the gold laser lines, I went into the next section, finding a MedBot, which I found was unhackable much to my disappointment… But on I went. No sooner had I begun to dominate the security camera in the next room -- then I got shot several times because I didn’t check for Seekers. I took down the two members of The Order and went up a nearby staircase. Around the corner a hologram began talking to me: Lin-Mei Chen, higher up for The Order.

According to Lin-Mei, I had to get out of there quickly through the door next to me. If I didn’t, then Leila would recapture me. As I had been here out of my own choice the entire time, Alex voiced as much, and doubted that running to The Order would be a better bet than remaining in Tarsus. However, I was told to go and meet with her at their place in Lower Seattle.

I left and met with an SSC checkpoint right outside. They told me to go to the WTO (World Trade Organisation) terminal, via the metro link. This was to be my first decision - The Order or WTO...