Deus Ex Diaries Part Sixty-Two (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 broken into the Palisade Bank’s CEO’s office and grabbed some evidence, I was heading back to the sewers…

I went straight back to the manhole that led to the Samizdat “headquarters”, and down into the sewer. In moments I stood with K ready to hand over the evidence of shady wrongdoings that would get him to stop looking into Praha Dovoz, the front company for TF29. He wanted evidence to expose Picus News, so I handed over the papers that proved they knew about water contamination, as well as what really happened on Flight 451. I was particularly happy about that second one, as it meant that Eliza Cassan might have stopped talking about it on repeat.

Before letting me off the hook, K said that he wanted me to hack one little thing for him to get the message out as loud and clear as possible. I headed for the marker and called Peter Chang at the office to tell him that he could stop worrying about the mystery hacker.

At the marker, I found a scissor lift which I could activate by inserting a biocell. While I was loath to do it and potentially waste something I might possibly eventually maybe need, I popped one in and jumped up onto it. On the roof, I hacked an antenna which started showing the latest issue of Samizdat on all kinds of signs and billboards in the area.

In a nearby alleyway I found another scissor lift and on a whim decided to activate it. Thanks to my jumping augmentation, I climbed around a building and onto a balcony. Inside the apartment was a dead body and a shell casing from a police officer’s bullet. Turning the power on, I accessed the unlocked computer to find out what potentially had happened. The dead man — Gerard — was helping augmented people get out of the city, which the Dvali didn’t like. Since the police were apparently being paid off by the Dvali, they were sent in to make him stop permanently. I did get a gate code for in the sewers, 6122, which I would probably find a use for at some point.

Finally deciding to continue with the main mission at Růžička Station, I headed for the metro. Though I was briefly distracted by Negozio di Magia, a magic shop that had a fortune-telling machine called Voltar 3000 inside. I paid it 250 credits and was told “Stop thinking and start feeling, your heart knows the truth.” Upon exiting, I spotted a ventilation shaft behind a bin, so I went inside and it led me below the shop. My curiosity had been piqued as the shop had some posters for the Richard and Liborio's Exploration of the Mind: A Hypnotic Experience show that I had encountered in the sewers.

Going through the shaft and into the shop basement, I found a blocked-off section with a pocket secretary inside. The email on it was from Richard — who I had already killed — hinting about his underground cult. There was a handful of loot as well which I grabbed, then headed back the way I had entered, and down into the metro.

Arriving at Růžička Station I was met by Daniel “Smiley” Fletcher who was surprised to see me. He suspected that he’d been ejected from the area because he was teaching someone English and her boyfriend didn’t like it, but they claimed it was because he was tampering with evidence. He asked me to grab a disc containing a scan of the area in a way that only I could, because the cops would open fire first and cover up the matter second. I agreed and started looking around the place, overhearing two men talking about how the next hallway was off limits.

I found a scaffold and climbed up it, looking for a ventilation shaft or punchable wall. A pocket secretary at the top mentioned a possible gas leak, but I had my implanted rebreather so I wasn't concerned. Unfortunately, most of the upper area was electrified, so I dropped down and hacked open a door into a maintenance room. After shutting down the breaker, I hopped up on top of the equipment there and found a pocket secretary with a code on it, as well as a copy of the latest issue of Samizdat telling us the truth about Flight 451!

There were two ventilation shafts, so I picked one at random and found it to be full of gas. Further in was a shut off valve and a corpse — but according to the pocket secretary they were trying to steal things, so I didn’t feel too badly for them. Back in the room, I used the other shaft and found myself above the metro platform, which had been electrified before. It led me to a security room which allowed me to disable the camera and alarms after hacking a security computer.

Leaving the room, I stunned the lone officer guarding the area before exploring further, leading me to a ventilation shaft and a ticket booth. There was nothing particularly noteworthy there, so I went back the other way and found a punchable grate. That took me into a utility space with a ladder, which in turn helped me reach a ventilation shaft into the heavily guarded station interior.

I stunned the closest officer before hiding from another one who was in a mechanised suit. While trying to explore yet remain hidden, I was spotted and had to resort to shooting the police with my stun gun, as well as throwing an EMP grenade at the one in the suit.

Locating the required evidence, I grabbed the DSD and contacted Smiley who was overjoyed at the news. I had to shoot another few officers on my way out, but reached the train before they could kill me, heading back to Čistá Čtvrť. Unfortunately, I wasn’t out of the woods yet, as Miller contacted me the instant I left the train, angry that “another augmented terrorist” had attacked police at the station. He ordered me to see Dr. Auzenne when I got back to the office, so I headed over to the import company which held the secret entrance.

Before I could use the keycard reader, Alex Vega contacted me. The whisper chip data had been decoded, so I was to meet them at the abandoned L.I.M.B. clinic in the Dávný District to hear what they’d found out.

Once I was inside TF29’s headquarters, I spoke to Aria Argento who asked me what had happened at the station — was I the “augmented terrorist” the police scanner mentioned? I told her that I regretted having to take such extreme measures, things had just gotten out of hand. Aria told me that Miller had stormed out after speaking to Auzenne, presumably moments before I’d arrived since I had run almost the entire way. She didn’t know where Miller had gone, but knew that he was under a lot of stress lately.

I took the DSD to Smiley and he was happy to have it. He didn’t know for certain that it had what we needed, but he was hopeful. I also nipped upstairs to Miller’s office to hack his computer and check his emails — there was only one, from Duncan MacReady complaining about me. Well, wanting to “clearly define his position”, but yeah being a bit augmentophobic.

I nipped over to see Peter Chang, to receive his thanks for dealing with Samizdat. I asked if he had any progress on Janus, the leader of the Juggernaut Collective. He explained that the less he talked about it, the closer he got to uncovering them, so didn’t give me much.

Finally, I went to see the new psychiatrist, Dr. Delara Auzenne so that she could clear me for active duty. She welcomed me into her office and introduced herself, asking how I was after the train station bombing. She handed me some Neuropozyne which she had obtained from the dispensary — meaning that I may have only stolen one of several stashes earlier. Jensen tried to explain that he didn’t require it, and while she didn’t believe me she said that her office was a place for straight talk only so she’d give me the benefit of the doubt.

Sitting at her desk, Auzenne asked about my work history — SWAT, then Sarif Industries security. I decided to straight talk, so disclosed that Sarif was always controversial. She was surprised that I had been at Panchea with Sarif during the attack, so I explained that I wasn’t at first as I had been investigating the attack which had resulted in my augmentation. She wanted to know how I felt living in a world that hated and feared people like me, especially with the upcoming Human Restoration Act vote, so I told her that I was going to do my job no matter what my personal thoughts on the matter. She thanked me for my time and cleared me for active duty.

As I left the facility, Vega contacted me to ask what was taking so long, but I confirmed that I was on my way…