Deus Ex Diaries Part Seventy-Seven (Jensen’s Stories)

With the main game done, it’s time to check out the Jensen’s Stories portion of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided to see what they’re about. They’re entirely separate from the main game, from what I remember, but they do have spoilers. Of course, as I’m writing about them, I’ll probably reference these spoilers directly. So beware of me talking about spoilers that you might miss if you were playing it.

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 played Deus Ex: Mankind Divided — Desperate Measures.

Jensen is leaving TF29’s office via the elevator when he is intercepted by Peter Chang of TF29's Cybercrime division. He was approached by Pavla Keilmanovich, who claimed to be able to explain why the train station bombing footage was corrupted. Chang told me where she was waiting, and I headed over there.

Pavla was jumpy when I approached her, partially because I was augmented, but as she told her story it became apparent that it was mainly because I was with Interpol. On her way to the station to begin her shift in the Růžička station security office, the bombing had occurred. She arrived hoping to help her colleagues, and was flustered when three people arrived from Tarvos Security Services, claiming to be helping with the investigation. She gave them the code for the Intellicam server room, and he gave her a credit chip when the police arrived, saying that it was enough to help her friends out.

As it turned out, Pavla’s friends had told her instead to contact Interpol, and because she had accepted a bribe, she assumed that she would be arrested. I told her that wasn’t the case and that she should contact Chang again if she remembered anything else.

Calling Chang, I explained the situation, and he told me that I should get to the Tarvos regional office in Terminal Station. It was locked down for some reason, so he had to arrange for a train to take me there, and as soon as he confirmed it I was on the metro.

Upon arrival at Terminal Station I was stopped by a Tarvos agent because no trains were supposed to stop there. However, even after being told who I was and that I wanted to speak to someone at Tarvos, he told me to wait for the lockdown to end or go away.

I was finally able to move Jensen myself, the rest to now having been a slightly interactive cutscene, and checked out the door at the far end of the platform, which I hacked to get open. Unfortunately, this being separate from the main game, I had to choose my upgrades. I went for Optimized Musculature so that I could lift heavy things, as well as all three levels of Hacking Stealth. Inside the maintenance room there was some machinery that allowed me access to a vent which led to the pipes and wires above the platform.

Going through a cable duct at the other end of the platform, I hid from two guards behind a ticket booth. Quickly, I followed one of them into the guard office and pressed the button to turn the windows black, before knocking him out. His computer was unlocked, and an email said that a suspicious package was found in an access tunnel, which had caused the lockdown.

Ignoring the other guard, I followed the hallway to a locked door and fully upgraded my Hacking Capture so that I could hack it open and not have to worry about upgrading it again. Sneaking into an area under construction, I had to duck past two men who were discussing an elevator, and in through an open door. I closed it behind me and followed the hallway to another door that needed hacking, and immediately behind it was a laser grid and its control panel.

After disabling the lasers, I went to the far end of the hallway and climbed up on some machinery, but I wasn’t able to get any higher unaided as a ladder had been deactivated. So, I upgraded my legs to enable me to jump higher, and reached the top. Quickly knocking out a guard just as they spotted me, I raided some lockers and a weapons locker for loot and ammo. Outside the room was a camera, so I avoided that by sticking against the wall as it rotated overhead.

Two guards in powered suits and one unarmoured were nearby, but I climbed down a ladder avoiding them easily. It was only then that I realised the objective marker was above me, so I followed the path around and hid behind some shelving units. Waiting for the two armoured guards to turn away, I dashed for the doors and hid by a wall to overhear two men talking about whether they should get an explanation for their orders or not. When they split up, I followed one to the left and knocked him out in his office, but despite being labelled “security” it didn’t have a terminal for any cameras.

Leaving the office, I knocked out the second guard and dragged him close to a laser grid so that I could get through, and followed the hallway around before nipping into the infirmary out of sight of a camera. Knocking out the guard inside, I looted the place before slipping out through a ventilation shaft.

As I reached the end of the shaft I contacted Chang to tell him that I was in the Command Center, despite the fact that I was clearly looking into a locker room. Apparently, Pavla had called to say that the Tarvos agents had a high-tech device with them, the type that would have left a paper trail. He told me to check out Lieutenant Whitaker’s office on the mezzanine, so I entered the locker room. There were three dots on my mini-map, so I did some cautious looting before sneaking past them and out.

There were a scattering of other Tarvos employees around the open plan office area I found myself in, but I managed to avoid them by sticking to the West side and was able to go upstairs. I dodged the camera and knocked out the guard I found at the top, entering Whitaker’s office without issue.

Whitaker was on the phone with his sister as I entered and hung up when I spoke to him. I explained who I was and why I was there and chose to negotiate rather than threaten, telling him that I would do everything that I could to ensure whoever was potentially involved wouldn’t be dealt with too harshly. Whitaker said he appreciated it, but I should leave the way that I had come in. Also, if I ever came back without evidence or an invitation he’d kill me.

I decided to challenge him on that as I didn’t like his attitude — I’d gone out of my way to not kill his people after all. So he pulled a gun on me, and I shot him with my stun gun. Hacking his computer, I didn’t find anything worth noting except for the code 4826, but I did spot a hidden button on the side. Unfortunately, it only opened a hidden drinks cabinet, which I emptied. To the right side of the office was a keypad next to a badly hidden secret door, so I used the code I had just found to open it.

The room contained a weapon cabinet, which I needed to upgrade my Carry Capacity to empty, and a safe with no code. I grabbed the keycard from inside, as well as a pocket secretary which proved to be exactly what I needed. On it was a transcript of a phone call, as well as the actual audio, of Melissa Berk saying that her husband had blown up Růžička station. She needed her brother to help cover it up otherwise the police would come for her. Also, her brother was Whitaker, the guy I’d just shot.

With the evidence in hand, I called Chang and told him to get a train back to Terminal Station for me. Then, following Whitaker’s advice, I left the way I had come in, knocking out one additional guard on my way past the infirmary and narrowly avoiding being spotted by the two armoured guards before I reached the station platform and hopped on the train back to TF29.

Back at base, I explained everything to Chang. He was impressed because Tarvos hadn’t reported any disturbances, as I hadn’t set off any alarms or killed anyone. And with that, the story ended…

Final Thoughts

Weighing in at about 40 minutes of gameplay, depending on how long you take to choose your augmentations, it’s certainly on the light side. However, it’s still definitely worth a look, as it explains why there was a problem with the security footage from the train station bombing at the start of the game.

If nothing else, it’s a nice segue into the other two Jensen Stories, which I’ll continue next time with System Rift…