Deus Ex Diaries Part Twenty-Three (Invisible War)

This is my ongoing exploration of the Deus Ex Universe, in preparation for when Mankind Divided arrives. Whether you’re a newcomer or an old-goer, I hope to make this something you can read along with and enjoy. I continue with Deus Ex: Invisible War.

Leila Nassif’s location had been narrowed down from ‘anywhere’ to ‘the largest city in the Middle-East’, and the WTO wanted Alex to track her down. It was up to Alex D. and her pilot Ava Johnson to head to Cairo…

Ava landed on a rooftop, and complained about the fact Cairo’s international airport was missing. Alex explained that the Collapse, caused by JC Denton, meant there had been no commercial air travel in decades, and that was why the Cairo International Airport was now a landfill. Ava was now sounding more robotic than before, which had made me wonder if she was, indeed, some kind of android, and that was why she didn’t realise they wouldn’t be able to land at an airport…

I went downstairs and into a bar, which was actually a Queequeg’s coffee bar. Donna Morgan came through my comm to tell me to destroy the Nassif greenhouse, to draw Leila out into the open. The Queequeg's owner asked me to help him out, by having the popstar NG Resonance endorse the franchise, which would put him in good standing with his manager. I agreed, and went exploring.

I'd later regret having gone right...

Lin-Mei Chen came over my comm and told me that the Order would forgive me for not murdering the scientist at Mako Ballistics, if I went along with their new mission. I was to meet with Billie Adams at the local mosque, and listen to the plan on how to locate Leila.

Whereas one of these missions required me to go the opposite direction to the wanton destruction awaiting me at the Nassif’s illegal food greenhouse, I opted to head for the greenhouse.

Some men stopped me and told me that I should pay for their families to get breathers, as their kids couldn’t breath the local air outside of the Arcology, an enclosed area almost like a high-rise biome. I murdered them and went on my way.

This, but with a red-headed female, not a brunette male...

I was told to put an end to the food production by either destroying the food, or damaging the equipment which would destroy the food. I hacked a nearby camera to stop it seeing me, then went exploring. I destroyed a few mechs with my EMP-enabled SMG, and found a holocom with one of Nassif’s relatives on, talking about how he had been assured that Leila was safe at Tarsus. If she was really still there, I was going to be miffed… Donna told me that I should complete this mission, then go see Leila’s uncle at his apartment, across from the Order church. I hoped she didn’t mean the one in Seattle...

I went the long way around, rather than waste multitools getting into Hydroponics, and disabled the main system, causing alarms to blare and the building begin to shake. Needless to say, I legged it.

Lin-Mei contacted me to tell me that I “shouldn’t oughtta done that, pilgrim”, and there would be an Order death squad or something after me soon. This certainly made it clear that I should have been more firm with my choices, rather than hoping to do it all… Of course, now I was locked into being the ‘good soldier’ like I chose to be in the last game…

Heading back to the madina, I was confronted by the death squad -- who quickly fell to my bullets. Lin-Mei contacted me again saying “Let that be a lesson to you, now listen to my orders next time”. She sure showed me, by letting me murder two of her number…

I went into the Arcology and bribed the guard to let me in, as I didn’t have a pass, and went to floor 108 in the elevator (because that was my only option). There was nothing really interesting, until I reached a Pequod's coffee bar. The owner, as with the guy from Queequeg’s downstairs, wanted an endorsement from NG Resonance, who was in the Arcology. The other guy offered me weapons mods, but this guy was offering to give me a biomod canister -- so I decided to help out yet another Pequod’s.

I spoke to the AI NG Resonance, which remembered that I spoke to the one back in Seattle. It told me a rumour, and informed me that it would pay for any information based on the rumour. I then overheard an author talking to someone about a book he was writing. Part of it would be based on the former leader of Silhouette the French terrorist group, Chad Dumier! I had met him in the Catacombs in Paris, back in Deus Ex. Apparently now he was Chairman of the World Trade Organisation -- quite a step up.

She probably remembers your dirty web searches too...

Whilst trying to find my way to NG’s manager, I came across the elevator to the mosque. Curious as to whether Billie would also have a go at me for allegedly ignoring Lin-Mei’s orders, I went down to see her...

Unfortunately this series will be on hiatus until Windows 10 updates to allow Deus Ex Invisible War to run properly once again. I had to stop using my Windows 7 laptop due to it not being able to run the game for more than 45 minutes without switching itself off. I switched to a Windows 10 laptop for Part Twenty, but recent Windows updates have now rendered it unusable...