Deus Ex Diaries Part Sixteen

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.

Tasked with retrieving the parts required to fix the universal constructor, to create the cure to the Grey Death, I first had to save Gary Savage’s daughter, Tiffany, who was captured at the underwater base, then taken to an abandoned petrol station…

My pilot Jock dropped me off on a road below the service station, with two hobos standing at the far end near a destroyed bridge. With no obvious way up, I headed over to chat and was informed that they had been evicted by some troops from their home, the gas station, by Majestic 12. They gave me a key and I went back the way I came to find the door to the ‘sewer’ -- though it was really to a ladder heading up.

"Because I am FREEZING!"

I dispatched an MJ12 trooper and saw a commando stood near the gas pumps -- so I threw a grenade. The gas pumps and roof blew, collapsing in the process -- and the commando carried on as if nothing was awry.

With a frown, I went over and ducked under the collapsed roof, being spotted the instant the commando turned around. I stabbed him and was glad to see that the second commando stood around the corner hadn’t heard anything either.

Moments before the not-very-mysterious collapse

I went back around the main building, on the hunt for loot. Up a rocky incline, I saw that there was another trooper stood behind the building. I couldn’t help but wonder whether any of them would be aware if a nuke went off… I ran down and cut him down before climbing the nearby ladder. Once on top of the building, I jumped over to the one guarded by another commando and two dogs, it probably being where the girl was being kept.

I dropped into the hole on the roof and landed on a person-sized box, alerting two people. I leapt down and sliced up the trooper and Man in Black. Thankfully when he exploded I already had my shield augmentation up…

I opened the door of the large safe, to find Tiffany inside. I went outside and murdered the last commando, and the two dogs, before returning to her and telling her to go meet Jock outside. I followed her outside and we left -- Jock was going to take Tiffany to her father, down the road, but first we would leave this arid desert land and go to the Pasadena Ocean Lab as Jock was under the impression it was on the way to Vandenberg Air Force Base… In this world, Pasadena is underwater, but there is no way that it could have been ‘on the way’ to Vandenberg from this gas station...

The subtitle doesn't even name her...

At the ocean lab, I had two options: sneak in the front door past two huge mechs and a trooper, or swim over to the ladder I could see in the distance. I went for a swim, taking out a couple of frogmen before heading up the ladder.

I went through the facility, murdering with my laser sword, and looting about the place. As I arrived at the front door, I realised I should have been in a submarine back near that ladder… On the plus side, it was a quiet run back that way, plus I had login details to open the sub bay doors. I jumped in and went to the underwater part of the ocean base.

The place was in disarray, with bodies scattered about and electricity arcing about. A little bit of discovery led me to find out that Ridley, a sleeper agent for the Illuminati, had set off some LAMs and uploaded a virus to the base computers. It was confirmed over comms that the computer systems might not work properly. And Helios, the MJ12 AI, taunted me that he was glad I was getting closer to the universal constructor...

There were plenty more bodies further inside

I went around exploring, finding my way into a room with an auto-turret -- not controlled by a camera. As soon as I went near either of the doors, it bleeped and I had to duck back… So, with shield activated, and a security console that didn’t control the guns, I had to run through the room, then avoid one in the next corridor.

I encountered some greasels here and there, but they were pretty harmless once I reached the flooded section. There was some fumbling around, more auto-turrets and plenty of running in the dark before I found myself inside a cavern which was being dug out before Ridley went nuts. Through it, I found the chamber with the universal constructor inside.

Ridley's email to... I'm not quite sure...

I snuck through the ceiling, wanting to avoid any security systems in place. As I jumped down through a smashed fan, I found that I’d been wasting time. Avoiding the lasers by the door meant that I had circumvented it all…

In the next room was a holographic communicator with no new messages -- that would be used later, I assumed. I heard a mech, but found one that was like the spiders, but much larger and scorpion-like. It didn’t notice me as I lobbed an EMP grenade at it, wiping it out in one shot.

I went up the lift and accessed the computer, getting the schematic for the part required back at Vandenberg. As I headed back down, Gary told me that he had what he needed, and he and Jock would meet me back on dry land. I went around past the deactivated robot scorpion, and the holographic communicator was lit up with Bob Page, leader of MJ12.

I really hate this guy...

He taunted that Helios took the data they required from the universal constructor through JC, and that a missile was headed for Vandenberg. Oh, and I wouldn’t leave alive, let alone confront him at Area 51. So out came my laser sword and I went back up through the darkness, being taunted (I sense a pattern…) by Walton Simons, the head of FEMA.

As I went back into the part being excavated, Simons pounced, claiming that his having updated firmware meant his augmentations were better than mine. So I cut him down with my laser sword.

I headed back for the sub, encountering a single frogman and the auto-turrets before arriving back at the minisub. I got in and went for the surface...

~JC lives in a yellow submarine~