Deus Ex Diaries Part Sixty-One (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 finally made it to the office, I had been given my next assignment and sent on my way…

Leaving the facility via the elevator, I contacted Alex Vega who confirmed that they had some intel from NSN thanks to the whisper chip, but couldn’t decode it yet. Once backatstreet level, I spoke to Marcie Sedlak, the agent who ran the import company that was TF29’s front. According to her, the store Praha Dovoz was a registered international shipping corporation, and set up in a way that we could set up an office or depot in any EU country within 72 hours. She didn’t mention if the United Kingdom was one of those countries, but she did ask if I knew about the hack and I confirmed that I was on the case and bid her farewell.

Leaving the shop I went straight to the apartment building and upstairs to the arms merchant. After selling all of the booze and random junk, as well as a shotgun with ammo, I left via the bathroom. Sure, I tripped a motion sensor in the ventilation shaft, but I needed to get into the apartment next door and couldn’t be bothered going back downstairs. I’d already been inside it, so was surprised to locate a terminal, as I was sure it wasn’t there earlier. I hacked it and found out that the computer belonged to someone going by “Little K” as all three emails were sent to that address.

It quickly became apparent that Little K was part of the underground newspaper Samizdat, which I had seen here and there. Two of the emails talked about a moon base story, and the third one was from a reporter named Angela Gunn who was turning Little K down for an opportunity to join Samizdat. Switching tabs, I was surprised to find a chat program which immediately became active with K asking why Little K was still at home and not in Dávný Čtvrť. K wanted to lead the next edition with Little K’s Praha Dovoz story. I asked what the rush was and he snapped about Samizdat issue 67, so I bluffed and he revealed exactly where I had to go. Dávný Čtvrť, in the manhole next to a music store, then use code 5431 to get in.

Leaving the apartment, I called Peter Chang to tell him what I knew and that I was on my way to find out exactly what Samizdat knew. I decided to spend some Praxis points on the Icarus Landing, mainly so I didn’t have to walk downstairs and could just jump — which I did. I hacked into the left-hand storage unit on the ground floor but it just gave me a pocket secretary with some address and door code. It did allow me to punch through the wall into the next unit, though, which had some ammo and a ventilation shaft.

Curious where it led, I went inside and upgraded myself some more with the Cybernetic Leg Prosthesis which unlocked the Klipspringer Jump Mod for a higher jump. As luck would have it, the shaft let out into a secret room in the arms merchant’s apartment! A weapons locker held some grenades, mines and ammo, so I snatched them and left the way I’d come in. I then headed to the music store in Dávný Čtvrť and went down into the sewer. Passing by some homeless people, I stole their beer and continued until I found some movable crates.

Behind the crates was a big door, so I used the code I’d been given to find three people arguing. Evidently the moon base story was preferred by two of them, just not the third in a red cap, he wanted to use the Praha Dovoz story. When I interrupted them the red cap guy said that while he wasn’t in charge, if I was there to break a nose I should break his. I refused, wanting to de-escalate things without threats and violence.

Apparently, they had been watching the office for a while, seeing agent types going in and out. Since Jensen wanted to help the Juggernaut Collective to expose the conspiracies inside of TF29, he obviously wanted the media (no matter how small they were) to keep their noses out without explicitly saying as much. So, K, as red cap called himself, suggested that I find out a bigger news story and he could find it in himself to misplace some documents. He wanted Picus Media — get some dirt on them from the Palisade Property Bank, most likely in the CEO’s office, and he’d do me this favour. He suspected that the CEO, Ashani Talwar, kept information close to leverage clients. I agreed to help out and left the sewer.

The bank wasn’t too far away, so I headed straight over. Rather than try the front door, I decided to check out the parking structure across the street. Behind two bins was a punchable wall, so I went inside that way, then in through a ventilation shaft. There were cameras and I could see at least one security guard, so I snuck behind some cars and into a utility room. A vent cover allowed me to get above the security office, so I opened the access hatch and stunned both of the guards inside before hitting a switch to turn the windows opaque.

Accessing the unlocked security computer, I deactivated the cameras and alarm, then looted the men and lockers in the room. There was a computer so, of course, I hacked into it and obtained the door code 6745 from an email. I left the office and knocked out the only guard left, finally exiting the parking structure using the door code I had just found. I dropped down past a ladder and punched through a grate where I found a pocket secretary with the code 7735.

Going through a door labelled “Sewer Access”, I was confronted by a large cloud of gas, so I decided on a new upgrade: Implanted Rebreather. I was running low on Praxis points, with only three left, but the alternative was a more direct assault on the bank and I wasn’t in the mood for that. After some jumping I found a dead body with a pocket secretary, which had a vault code 2357 inside. To exit the area, I punched through a breakable wall, gaining access to Level 1: Executive Safes.

I went through a door into a server room and deactivated the laser grid in the next room. There was a turret keeping an eye on the room, and having a look with some sneaking, I found a second turret above the entrance/exit. Since the entire area was red, I decided that my only option was to spend my remaining three Praxis points. I upgraded myself with the Glass-Shield Cloaking to remain hidden, as well as upgrading my Energy Converter to store more biocell energy.

Entirely unnecessary detail, which I love

Activating my cloak, I hurried out of the room and on impulse went into the nearby security room, seeking an easy shelter when my cloak ran out. As bad luck would have it, my cloak ran out the moment I stepped inside, so I was asked politely to leave the room. I was surprised that I hadn’t been shot, when I realised that this wasn’t a restricted area. What’s more, the vault area I had just left was now unrestricted too! So, I returned and hacked open a few safes and used the code 2357 to get into another one. I then used the door code 7735 to get into the second server room. Spotting a grate near the top of the room, I jumped up to it and climbed inside.

Climbing a ladder took me to the lobby level and a stairwell that was restricted. I snuck upstairs and managed to knock out a guard and drag his body out of view of the security camera, then used my cloak to get into the reception area of the CEO’s office. I shot one of the guards with my stun gun, reenabled my cloak and shot the second, then hit the switch to turn the windows opaque. After finding nothing on the receptionist’s computer, I managed to sneak around the camera at the top of the stairs and enter the code 0211 to get into the office proper.

Shh, they're sleeping

Under the CEO’s desk were Drinking Water Analysis Results, which I figured might be useful for Samizdat. It advised people to not use the city’s water to drink, bathe, wash dishes, or anything else — but only if you read the memo, as the citizens would panic otherwise… I then hacked the security terminal and disabled the cameras, alarm system and laser grid at the door, and hacked the computer which gave me a clue to a secret room. However, after an extended attempt at solving the puzzle, which involved the sculpture in between the two desks, I gave up and checked out the ventilation shaft above. Thanks to my jumping augmentation I could easily reach it, but it led me to the roof of the office, overlooking the lobby far below.

Back in the office, I found another ventilation shaft behind the screens showing Picus News. It led me back down to the lobby, but a ventilation shaft in the ceiling led me back into the secret room I had been trying to access! A pocket secretary had the vault code 1293, as well as a safe hidden behind a painting. Hacking into it, I found credits, a Praxis kit, a triangle code, and a Flight 451 Dossier, which detailed what really happened to the plane which the news was alleging had been hijacked by an augmented person. It had been shot down over a secret military base…

Leaving the room and the office, via the hatch in the ceiling, I decided to risk it and dropped straight down, my Icarus Landing System saving me from harm. The guards and security robots were unfazed by my dramatic appearance and apparent refusal to use the front door, so I went over to the security supervisor’s office and hacked the door panel. After looking around the office I exited through a ventilation shaft which led to a utility room and another shaft, then yet another utility room. That one, however, gave me access to the elevator — but I didn’t have the remote hacking upgrade, so couldn’t use it. Below was an electrified floor and a hatch I couldn’t open, so I went through the only other route open to me, into a utility hallway.

Luckily for me, it had an access hatch to the security room, so I knocked out the guard and turned the windows opaque before accessing the security terminal with the password I had found on a pocket secretary: KLMVP9951. I deactivated the cameras and turret, but was unable to affect the security bots as I didn’t have the right augmentation. I figured it didn’t matter, looted the office and went back the way I had come, finally accessing the security supervisor’s computer. Using the Messenger app, I told the security person who began speaking to me that I needed security shut down on the third floor server room for a new technician, because I said so, then gave over the supervisor’s ID number that I’d just found in the other room.

I then crossed the atrium and broke into the account manager’s office, almost getting caught. I grabbed an elevator keycard from the desk and some credits from various drawers, then went downstairs to see what I might have missed. I came across a locked office for Executive Services, so broke in and accidentally spotted a button beneath the desk. It opened a wall exposing a safe, so I hacked into it, getting credits and an access card for Executive Locker A. I then hacked the computer, discovering that I could potentially find an Executive Locker B access card, if I could locate where WealthCorp was, as the president of the company had requested a replacement…

Deciding that there was nothing left to do here, and having forgotten the relaxed security upstairs which would have given me greater freedom, I left the bank and headed for the sewers. I had a news network to expose…