Deus Ex Diaries Part Seventy-Four (Mankind Divided)

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.

Having returned to Prague under Martial Law, I had done what I could to help people, and steal everything not nailed down…

I really needed to get to TF29, but first I decided to spend some of my Praxis points. I upgraded my Wayfinder Radar System with Range Boost and Vision Feedback, my cloak with Cloaked Takedown Support, fully upgraded my reload speed, and every option on my health. Then I installed the Quicksilver Reflex Booster and the experimental Focus Enhancement.

Keeping stealthy, I found my way to Tech Noir, a store which had bought all of the Breach software from me the moment I said that I was interested in doing business. I had actually just wanted to sell him some stuff and see if he had any Praxis Kits… As it turned out, no he didn’t, so I bought some ammo, multi-tools, and biocells instead, selling a couple of weapons and some booze I had picked up along the way.

Leaving the shop, I made my way to TF29 and managed to run out of energy at the most inopportune time, losing my cloak and getting spotted before I could get in through the side window. However, once inside, I was home free and went down in the elevator. Before reaching the bottom, David Sarif called and told me to call him back from my TV as soon as I could; he had something to tell me.

Exiting the elevator, I was approached by Delara Auzenne for absolutely no reason. She had called in a favour with the local police to get her here, as she felt that it was safer than at home, with those riots apparently getting closer to the city. When she wandered off, I stepped over to speak with Aria Argento, who had been concerned for my safety before with that whole murderer thing. She asked if I’d engaged the police, so I confirmed that I’d taken a few down. Apparently, she had just been cleared for active duty under Duncan MacReady, which surprised me as he disliked me due to my being an aug…

Going upstairs, I interrupted Jim Miller’s phone call when it became obvious that he was just going in circles. I insinuated that someone leaked my going to GARM, which Miller did not take well. Honestly, I still suspected Chikane personally, but I didn’t get the opportunity to mention that… While arguing that it wasn’t him who leaked, he mentioned that Joseph Manderley was the one who had specifically placed me in Miller’s unit — this surprised Jensen that he’d have such a pivotal role in placing him there.

Brushing off the topic, Miller explained that a team had gone in an hour after I’d slipped out undetected, but the Gold Masks had escaped. While they’d left booby traps, there wasn’t much else. That meant TF29 had no clues left to follow, but luckily I had overheard Marchenko say that he was finalising a deal with the Dvali. Miller reluctantly agreed to let me investigate the Dvali theatre — the very one I had decided not to touch earlier — and I left the office.

Before leaving, I checked in with Daniel “Smiley” Fletcher, who had been looking into Talos Rucker’s autopsy. While the official report said that it was inconclusive, an earlier draft said that it was some kind of unknown agent that was responsible; it had altered the shapes of certain protein strands, which caused the body’s immune system to attack, resulting in a quick and painful death.

Exiting via the elevator, I left the building through the hole I’d punched in the wall to the right much earlier, entering the courtyard below the apartment where I’d found Vadim Orlov’s body and evidence that someone called Madame Photographe had been keeping an eye on me. Climbing up onto the roof, hoping to use the covered walkway to avoid the police, I was interrupted by Daria, who said that the killer was at her apartment! It meant travelling via the metro again, but I did also have to speak to Sarif at my apartment, so figured I’d kill two birds, perhaps one of them being a murderer.

Jumping onto the walkway, I noticed an open apartment with a balcony at the end, so I figured I’d have a nose around. Unfortunately, some shutters closed behind me, trapping me inside! A message played, apparently from Anton Suchanek, and directed towards someone who was collecting money for Otar Botkoveli. If I could disarm a deadly trap, I could give Otar his money. My Smart Vision didn’t pick up anything apart from a refrigerator and a locker, as well as a door to the bathroom on my left.

Opening the locker revealed a large cylinder with a timer counting down from 45 seconds! Quickly moving over to the door, I opened it, only to be sprayed with toxic gas from a mine! Not that it affected me, as the breathing augmentation was one of the first things I installed. However, fearing a big old-fashioned explosion, I hit the button just inside the door, deactivating the trap. I then used the computer on the table to lift the shutters, though I also noticed an email exchange between Suchanek and my aug doctor Vaclav Koller. It seemed that Suchanek had Koller install an upgrade that helped him cheat the Dvali out of a lot of money.

Before leaving, I spotted a bunch of credit chips at the bottom of the locker, so I grabbed those before cloaking and running down into the metro and walking to Překážka. The apartment was a short, cloaked walk away, so I went upstairs to see Daria. Standing outside her apartment was Detective Montag! More people had turned up dead with the same M.O., as the deceased killer Marek Svobotka.

I confided in him why I was there, and he told me that there was no answer, so he was going to look around, and if I could get into the apartment, then all the better. After hacking the door open, I found the apartment in disarray, with a large amount of blood seemingly dragged from a dining chair towards the door. In the bedroom was Daria’s diary, though it looked like she was having an argument with the killer in it… Her computer had a new email on it, though it had remained hacked from earlier. It was from Dr. Nicholas Cipra, who was asking her to come and see him immediately in Dávný District and mentioned her brain surgery. Other than more blood and a few bottles of ‘Skin Shield’ brand hand lotion, I found a cat collar with “Starlight” on it, some broken glasses, and a bear skin rug. So, I headed for my apartment for a quick check-in with Sarif.

Sarif explained that he had looked into Facility 451, the clinic where I recuperated after being fished out of the Arctic Ocean. He didn’t believe that nobody knew who I was because all of my augmentations had serial numbers; they just had to look them up. However, on the whole, he had no answers for me, and the only one who could have provided them was Orlov, who was dead…

After leaving and jumping off of the balcony, I went out into the alley beside the building and spotted some torn, bloody cloth near a manhole, so I dropped down to investigate. Some blood and Daria’s mobile phone led me through a pipe and to a gate, behind which was the lady herself, tied to a chair!

Daria begged me to hurry and set her free before the killer returned; she had been brought there as bait to lure me, wanting to remove my augmentations. Rather than immediately help, I asked how long ago the killer left and which direction they went. She kept asking me to come closer, which I found odd, so I hesitated since she was safe where she was — the killer wanted me, after all. So, Daria pulled a gun on me! Her mannerisms changed as she reconfirmed her desire to “save” me by removing my augs, then activated some laser grids as I ducked behind cover.

Engaging my cloak, I moved through the lasers and climbed some stairs while I weighed my options. There were mines set up at the gate, which was the only access point that I could see, so I cloaked again and exited, closing the gate to detonate the mines and get Daria’s attention. As she had armour on, I shot her with my pistol’s EMP rounds, and as she came to get a better shot at me, I knocked her out.

As it turned out, thanks to a pocket secretary, I discovered that Daria had been operated on by Orlov, too, according to Dr. Cipra. And while she was acting like Marek Svobotka, Cipra didn’t believe that the deceased killer had anything to do with what she was doing. But with business here concluded, I needed to get to the red light district…