#Sarif Industries

[pedroam-bang]

Faridah Malik - Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011)

[aecholapis]

Helios in Astral Chain as a Neuron transport helicopter *eyes emoji*

[thoughtfulobservationcollection]

OC 2077: Adam Jensen

Left: screenshot from Deus Ex MD. Right: CP2077

Basic Info about character

Name: Adam Jensen

Male. Caucasian.

Birth location, unknown.

Date of birth: March 9th, 1993. (yes, in 2077 he is 84, but he is heavily augmented)

Weight (prior to augmentation): 182 pounds / 82 kg; Height: 6' 3" / 1.92m.

Eye Color: Blue-Gray (original); Hair Color: Dark Brown.

Blood Type: O-Negative.

Sexuality: Straight

College education, University of Phoenix and Ferris College.

Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice.

Sworn officer, Detroit DMPD, 2014. (formerly)

S.W.A.T., 2018. (formerly)

Quits DMPD in 2026.

Hired by Sarif Industries 2027 (formerly)

Task Force 29 operative / Juggernaut Collective agent 2029 (formerly)

Afterlife merc around 2035+ - ongoing

Jensen is described as a "working class hero" and exhibits personality traits consistent with that mentality: dependable, resourceful, curious (in a stand-offish way), and with a streak of cynicism. Jensen's childhood and experiences with his mother Margie may have impacted his life and career decisions in that it may have inclined him to a life of service and a desire to help others.

The most prominent fixed element of Jensen's personality is that he is a loner, though he was allegedly getting better before the train attack. He undertakes missions exclusively alone and rarely displays strong emotion even towards close acquaintances. He's also stoic and maybe even a bit melancholic when expressing himself, rarely showing any emotion, be it happiness, joy, sadness or anger when speaking to others. However, a few people in Jensen's life do provoke him to more emotional reactions and his inner thoughts and monologues are highly emotional, but he keeps those emotions to himself. He retains strong affection for his ex-girlfriend Megan Reed.

Despite his emotionless appearance, Adam often displays a sarcastic, sometimes ironic, sense of humor. He is both a smoker and a drinker. Jensen's preferred beard style appears to be the "anchor beard." (from author: this one I still lack of as a mode for him).

--

Head canon:

Adam officially declared dead, despite his body was never found. He survived only due to his military augmentations and after a long recovery moved to the Night City to start a new life as a merc. Since he is heavily augmented with top tier military cyberwave, Adam gain reputation among the other mercs pretty quickly as highly effective.

Jensen uses alias V for public and fake id under the name Vincent to hide his true identity. Viktor Vector is a only trusted ripperdoc who knows "his inner secret" aka his real cyberware, where it came from and assure it works properly and get constant upgrade.

[rallamajoop]

I have too many feelings about Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (2/3)

So we've covered gameplay and worldbuilding. The stuff on character has been deemed too long and will be split out into yet another post. For now, let's talk plot.

Plot

God, where do I even start with this mess?

Plotwise, I'd call Deus Ex: Human Revolution fine, but unremarkable. It had many problems and a notoriously weak ending, but it still delivered a decently-paced adventure with rising stakes and tension, and major reveals at appropriate intervals. The bar for video game writing at large is so low that I’d honestly rate it well above average [insert obligatory grumbling about The Witcher 3, RE4R etc here].

The scope for sequels to that story were always going to be somewhat hamstrung by that usual prequel-problem where we can’t actually beat the Illuminati, because we know they’re still around in the future. But there’s plenty that could have been done with Jensen’s story. In particular, HR’s DLC chapter has Jensen catching the interest of an anti-Illuminati hacktavist network called the Juggernaut Collective, led by the mysterious Janus (real identity unknown). Jensen’s backstory as a genetic test subject was presumably meant to be expanded upon in future too. And canon tells us that Jensen was declared legally dead after the Panchea incident at the end of the previous game, only to wake up in a facility in Alaska with no memory of how he survived. Surely that’s the perfect start point for the sequel – it even gives you the perfect excuse to reset all his augs again for gameplay reasons!

But MD does not take that perfect sequel idea. Instead, the ‘story’ of Jensen’s survival is relayed to us via Black Light, a tie-in novel that I read months ago and have so many conflicted feelings about. On the one hand the author, James Swallow, is refreshingly interested in so much aug-related worldbuilding that the games utterly ignore, and writes some genuinely great Jensen/Pritchard banter. On the other, the main ‘conflict’ of the book revolves around retrieving a smuggled shipment of leftover Sarif Industries cyborg parts, which is pretty lame even by the usual weak MacGuffin standards. With stakes like these, it's just very hard to care whether the heros succeed or fail.

Meanwhile, having set up the great mystery of the holes in Jensen's memory and how he really survived, the book delivers no answers whatsoever (and nor, I'm sorry to say, does Mankind Divided itself). Tasked also with setting up Jensen’s new double-life working for both the Juggernaut Collective and Interpol, well, the book tells us the collective comes to see Jensen and asks him to work for them, and Jensen thinks about it and then says ‘yes’. The story of how he came to work for Interpol is similarly underwhelming.

But perhaps worst of all is the title, which refers indirectly to the mysterious ‘Project Black Light’ – something which a villain significantly reads a report on in this one scene. We do not see the content of the report. ‘Project Black Light’ presumably has something to do with Jensen ‒ either the genetic experiment that created him or whatever created that hole in his memory ‒ but that’s literally all Deus Ex canon has ever told us about it. It’s embarrassing just how little meat this thing has on its bones.

Unfortunately, Mankind Divided itself would prove to be a lot like Black Light – just without the interesting worldbuilding or the good banter to spice it up.

The usual big complaint levied at this game is that it’s too short, and the story feels unfinished – presumably cut short by time and budget constraints. That first point surprised me, as I’m sure it took me as long to finish as HR did – but I’m a terrible completionist and MD does have roughly a gazillion different side quests to waste your time. As the player, I’ll do almost anything for EXP, but rationalising why a guy as busy as Jensen would waste time on this crap is dissonance city. All these distractions do nothing to keep you invested in the main plot either (which is hard enough to care about to begin with).

I’d also debate that the story feels unfinished. To me, it feels unstarted.

(Yes, that is a loading screen detailing the history of a construction firm. This is absolutely the level of excitement you can look forward to here.)

The story of MD is so uninvolving it’s an effort even to remember much of it. The augmented populace who survived the 'aug incident' are now the new world-wide pariahs, and there’s an upcoming UN vote that will ban them from living anywhere worthwhile, and some terrorists have bombed a train station for some allegedly-related reason. Jensen is sent to apprehend the leader of a pro-augmented rights group leader as a suspect, a staunch pacifist whose name I've forgotten. On the way in, though, he meets a man with a sinister accent called Viktor Marchenko, the mother of all big-ugly-heavies, so it will amaze you all to learn that this guy is secretly the real terrorist mastermind, and will later be the final boss. The Illuminati have stakes in this somehow, and are probably pulling his strings or something. Look, I’m all for stories about twisted political shenanigans, but some of that has to happen on screen to work. This is a story where you’ll hear about all that shit third hand if you’re lucky.

Possibly, the idea was to open MD on a similar note to HR, at least in that Jensen is some months into his new job when a terrorist attack leaves him and his augs back at Factory 0. He then spends most of the rest of the game trying to track down those responsible. The key difference is that in HR, the attack was a targeted assault on Jensen’s workplace, resulting in his robocop upgrades and the abduction of his ex-girlfriend. Yes, it’s cheesy, yes, it’s cliched, but it gives us personal stakes. And as the story chugged along, we’d learn that Jensen’s own DNA was behind the discoveries that led to Sarif Industries being targeted, used without his consent. Love it or hate it, it’s very much Jensen’s story.

MD, by comparison, is just a story which Jensen happens to be in. He’s only at ground 0 for MD’s terrorist attack by unlucky accident, and is barely injured. He investigates because he works for Interpol, so this shit is literally his day job. Stopping bad people from doing bad things shouldn't need justification, but in what way is this Jensen’s story? His contacts with the Juggernaut Collective help with the investigation, but the conflict between his day job and his own secret affiliations never comes to a head, or even really escalates. It's the kind of experience that makes you long for the sort of generic genre cliches you thought you were tired of.

Some token attempt is made to link Megan’s research on Jensen's DNA to a new poison being used by the terrorists – and two almost complete games in, Jensen’s personal superpowers have finally mattered by making him immune to that poison – but why on earth would they need a new poison at all? Any quick-acting poison would’ve done the same job. (A cynical answer is that the plague from the original Deus Ex was supposed to have been accidentally created during human augmentation experiments, and fans want this to be more like the original Deus Ex, right? So let's do that again! Just, you know, even worse.)

None of the other dangling plot points go anywhere either; this is a story devoid of exciting reveals. We never meet the real Janus. We learn nothing new about Jensen’s background, his amnesia, or the Illuminati’s plans for him. Various members of Interpol are either revealed or subtly hinted to be working for the Illuminati, but Jensen himself doesn't get to react to those reveals. We learn that the Illuminati hopes Jensen will uncover Janus' true identity for them, which is to say that they mention it in passing in the very final cutscene. I as the player would really like that to happen too, if only so something would happen, but as an explanation for the Illuminati's interest in Jensen (escaped research test subject with DNA apparently vital to augmentation technology) that's pretty freaking underwhelming. The grand 'villain' of Mankind Divided isn't the Illuminati but ordinary human prejudice, and no actual progress is made in defeating that either.

We do get some intriguing hints in optional side quests that the Jensen we’re playing as may be a clone of the Jensen from HR (heck, maybe the real Jensen really did die when Panchea sank, and the Illuminati decided they still had a use for him), but hints are as far as it goes. The whole universe feels like it’s treading water, desperately trying to squeeze out another installment without having to answer any real questions or advance the real plot one iota forward. The whole game feels like a filler episode.

There are good moments scattered through nonetheless. Having to decide between doing the urgent mission Interpol wants and the equally-urgent mission the Collective wants at one key moment is wonderfully tense (though the actual consequences of that choice are typically minor). Wandering around Interpol HQ talking to people who are busily trying to track down the Juggernaut Collective without a clue that Jensen's an actual Collective agent is effective too. But the pacing suffers badly from the huge number of side-quests it encourages you to waste time on, and the core cast really isn’t holding up their end.

A few side-quests actually deliver some of the game’s other best moments. There’s a cult leader living in the sewers with hypnotic powers somehow strong enough to scramble Jensen’s CASIE aug, producing a terrific sequence when some of our favourite tools suddenly turn against us. Elsewhere, Eliza’s side-quest features by far the single best moment of twisted, trust-no-one paranoia in this whole franchise, where you have the chance to spot the fact that an "ordinary" shopkeeper is actually a plant trying to bait Jensen into a trap. That reveal worked all the better for me because I missed it completely on my first run through that dialogue tree, and stumbled onto it only by accident after reloading a save for unrelated reasons. You’ll get the odd glimpse of what this game could have been with a stronger vision behind it, but such material remains few and far between.

And burying the best stuff in optional content does the game no favours. I’d been spoiled for the fact you can find what seems to be a cloned copy of Jensen’s body (or maybe even the real Jensen?) in the Versalife vault, and had naively assumed that meant it was an actual plot point. I'd never have guessed the body isn’t even visible unless you let off an EMP grenade while standing right on top of it (which you have no reason to do because there are no enemies in this room). There’s no way to get a really good look at it without using freecam mods. And so the biggest single clue to any of the mysteries still surrounding Jensen is a detail so minor I can’t help wonder whether it’s anything more than an asset leftover from cut content, shipped in the finished game by mistake.

Maybe this game really was finished in a hurry with half its intended plot incomplete. But for my money, what it really needed wasn't an extra year in development, it was the direction to tell an actual story from the start. Seriously, Jensen discovering that he died in Panchea, that he's a clone re-created by his worst enemies as a sleeper agent against his new allies? Gold. If that was even the real intent. But no-one wanted an entire game about a UN resolution to make cyborgs more oppressed ‒ and if they did, the game they delivered was not it.

A bad plot alone isn't necessarily a death-knell from my side of fandom, of course. Some of the most beloved franchises out there are pretty objectively a load of hot garbage with a few compelling characters at the fore. Some of my own most beloved series are that exactly. So I wish I could tell you that Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was at least saved by its stellar characters and cast. But my thoughts on that front have yet again been deemed too long to squeeze into this post.

[casie-mod]

Master track list for all my 'Cyberpunk Versus Post Cyberpunk' Mixes

By request and because YT sucks for playlists

PART 1:

(Not available on YT or Mixcloud)

//-Intro Vangelis - Main Titles And Prologue 0edit (Ed Harrison) - Prabhava

//-HQ Michael McCann - Sarif Industries The Enigma TNG - 2027 Ambiance

//-City Exploration Synæsthesia - Intelligence Dream Michael McCann - Detroit Marketplace Trifonic - Parks on Fire

//-New Objectives 1 Haujobb - Sub Unit Three

//-Investigation 1 Michael McCann - Detroit City Ambient Part 1 The Enigma TNG - Genesis End.user - Interruption 3

//-Combat Ginormous - Welcome Vacuum

//-Boss Fight 1 Gridlock - III Autechre - Second Bad Vilbel

Pendulum - Comprachicos Haujobb - Rising Sun

//- Betrayal Silence - Efface Michael McCann - Everybody Lies Haujobb - Lost End.user - Fallen 0edit (Ed Harrison) - Scrap I/O Maduro - Situational Mythos

//-Downtime 1 Gridlock - Untitled 2 0edit (Ed Harrison) - Radius Michael McCann - Home

//-Love interest 1 01:54:50 Haujobb - New World March 01:59:50 Bassnectar - Underwater

PART 2:

Mixcloud link

//-New Objectives 2 Health - Shells

//-On Route Haujobb - Anti/Matter

//-Hacker 1 Michael McCann - Hacking theme III T.Wilton - Fluid Autechre - Beaumonthannanttwomx

//-Stealth 1 Kenji Kawai - Access Newt - White Sun T.Wilton - Diplom 1 Hpm Pgdcwm Rmx

//-Tracking the Target Silence - Pollution Michael McCann - Highland Park Cutscene

//-The Chase Juno Reactor - Conga Fury Enduser - Not So Distant Drums

//-On Route - Red Light District Haujobb - Sub Unit One

//-Nightclub Atmosphere 1 Velvet Acid Christ - Slut Michael McCann - The Hive Android Lust - Spine

//-Nightclub combat 1 HMB - Return Joe-E & KloneZ - Virus Attack (BeXta Remix) Enduser - On Point

//-Hacker 2 The Enigma TNG - Silent Hacker Newt - Abyss Parallel Worlds - Compulsive Mechanics

//-Stealth 2 Integral - Moonwalk Vangelis - On The Trail of Nexus 6 Atiq & Enk - Moonlit Tea Party

PART 3:

Mixcloud link

//-New Objectives 3 0edit (Ed Harrison) - Reboot

//-On Route Hybrid - Keep it in the Family

//-Infiltration Silence - Cellule Atiq & Enk - My Obligation

//-Boss Fight 2 Aslan Osiris - The Secret of Woman The Enigma TNG - Voice of the Storm

//-Aftermath Astradyne - Still Leben

//-Love interest 2 Trifonic - Transgenic The Glitch Mob - Between Two Points End.user - Keep Telling

//-Downtime 2 Ed Harrison - Out Ensemble Nipponia - Blimpvert

//-Investigation 2 Haujobb - Skull Fission XXX

//-Ambush White Nois Statis - Abyssmalescent (Reflxx)

//-Escape 0edit (Ed Harrison) - Imbrium

//-The Underground Gridlock - V Michael McCann - Maneuver in the Dark Hyetal - Ritual Integral - Rise Aslan Osiris - The Story of you

//- Confrontation Erode - Annoy (edit) Atticus Ross - The Passenger

Gridlock - XIII (edit)

//-Underground Combat Teleoptyk - Dark Room Current Value -Dark Rain

//-On Route - Return to the Streets Haujobb - Crossfire

//-Nightclub Atmosphere 2 Astradyne - Darshan Collide – Wings of Steel

//-Nightclub combat 2 Claire Voyant - Love the Giver (Covenant Remix) Joe-E & KloneZ - Virus Attack (Shu Remix)

//-Investigation 3 - Unraveling the conspiracy Kenji Kawaii - Type 2052 Hadaly Josh Randall/Ramin Djawadi/Eric Brosius - Med Sci 2 Parallel Worlds - Frightening Frontiers Trifonic - Inflitration Alexander Brandon - Unatco (Lawine redux)

PART 4:

Mixcloud link

YT link

//- Interrogation Josh Randall/Ramin Djawadi/Eric Brosius - Command 3 

//- Released Freeze Etch - Slight Rite (Edit)

//- Stealth 1 Loss - Watching You Crumble (edit) Access to Arasaka - “-- -“ (Track 2 on écrasez l'infâme) - Access to Arasaka Michael McCann - Hangar (edit)

//- Mysterious Ally Hybrid - The Choke (no vocals)

//- Hacker 1 Ex-Tension - Desert (Access to Arasaka Remix) Michael McCann - Hacking ambient II Access to Arasaka - Term/Echo

//- Biometrics Black Lung - Meat Manager

//- Rendezvous Holon - Machine Intelligence

//- Stealth 2 Psilonaut - Third from the Sun Josh Randall/Ramin Djawadi/Eric Brosius - Ops 1 Black Lung - The Dawn of Love (edit)

//- Prisoners Subheim - Hollow

//- Hacker 2 Ex-Tension - Aura Diaphane - Metastable Black Rain - Endourban Michael McCann - Hangar (edit)

//- Underwater lab Access to Arasaka - Optlist Access to Arasaka - Syslog_ident (Edit)

// - Witness Michael McCann - Restricted Area

//- Interception Obsidian Kingdom - Last of the Light (Subheim vs Poordream Remix)

//- Under Pressure Plastic Eulogy - Hollow

//- Combat Michael McCann - Lockdown Juno Reactor - The Tempest Michael McCann - Cargo part 2

//- Gearing up Holon - Exit Strategy

//- Challenge Paper Sound - Constructor

//- Boss Fight Michael McCann - Burke Boss Fight Näo - The Dart

//- Double Agent Johan Althoff/Gustaf Grefberg - Wakeup Call (The Enigma TNG remix)

PART 5

Mixcloud link

//-Safe house Aslan Osiris - The Will of Destiny Kenji Kawaii - Nightstalker Vangelis - Blade Runner Blues Ginormous - Skye

//-Upper City Exploration 0edit (Ed Harrison) - Rebuild Michael McCann - Zhao Yun Rhu's Penthouse The Enigma TNG - Beyond the World Kenji Kawaii - Floating Museum Gridlock - Edit 364

//-Stealth 3 Integral - Back Here Alone Michael McCann - Pangu, City Above The City Zentriert ins Antlitz - Silence Diary Architect - Stairway (Mekotam Remix)

//-Hacker 3 Haujobb - Sub Unit Two Scar Tissue - Lattice (Edit) Mentallo and the Fixer - Battered States of Euphoria

//-Upper City Combat Hybrid - Last Man Standing Haujobb - Deviation

//-Gearing up TomandAndy - Racer Head Hybrid - Empire

//-On Route Michael McCann - And Away We Go

//- At the Edge of the World PG Lost - The Day Shift (edit) Pentaphobe - Jerk Like old Raven Gridlock - Pulvis Et Umbra Sumus Michael McCann - Eerie Silence Converter - Nightmare Machine (Edit) Gridlock - Wound Erode - Disengage (edit) Michael McCann - After the Crash

//- Confrontation and Revelation Haujobb - Sensor

//-Final Boss Fight Download - Possession Kenji Kawaii - Attack The Wakabayashi Michael McCann - The Hyron Core

//-Self-Destruct Sequence Haujobb - Kilo-Cycle Respirator

//-Aftermath Erode - Horizon (Kadrage rmx)

//-Roll Credits Alexander Brandon - Deus Ex Main Theme (Orchestral) Michael McCann - Deus Ex Human Revolution Icarus Theme (Justin Armada remix)

[silurisanguine]

Adam Jensen's timeline (so far)

I've worked out dates and his respective age. Though some month dates are fuzzy I've assumed, unless specified, that an event happened at the beginning of the determined year and carried through the year. All the known dates are confirmed on the Wiki.

(conjecture is in blue, unknown specific dates suggested in green)

Might be useful for anyone writing! (just please credit me if you use this)

(Also note, if i find anything new i'll edit this list, so always check back occasionally to see if its been updated.)

1993 March 9th: Adam is born.

1998 5yrs old: Possible birth parents die in arson of lab

1998 - adopted by Jensen couple

2007? 14yrs old : high school captain of debate team.

2012 19yrs old : Possibly gains Associates degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Phoenix, Detroit at this time or within the next few years.

2014 21yrs old: joined the Detroit Police Department. Possible Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice from Phoenix University and Ferris College at this time or within next few years through remote study or part-time.

2017 23yrs Old: Meets Megan Reed for first time.

2018, 24yrs old : joined the Department's SWAT unit, ends up leading second unit, thanks to his skills.

2019 25yrs old : starts relationship with Megan Reed.

2023 30yrs old : breaks up with Megan but stays friend and co-owns their dog Kubrick.

2025 32yrd Old - Megan starts taking genetic samples from Adam. (How does she do this? Most likely scenario is she gets hair off a hairbrush of his. I doubt from the way they interact that they are 'friends with benefits'.)

2026 33yrs old : After 13 years, quits DPD and SWAT after Mexicotown massacre. It's painted as if he is fired.

2026 (6 months after quitting DPD) : Joins Sarif industries on behest of Megan, who, unknown to Adam, needs access to his DNA to continue her research.

2027 34yrs old (May) : Attack on Sarif headquarters the day Megan was to go to Washington to present her research on rejection free augmentation. Adam is nearly killed and saved with augmentations thanks to Sarif and a contract stating he could do this to Adam in such event.

2027 6 months later (October): Adam returns to work, 6 months early yet fully adapted to his augments already. (normally takes longer for that many.)

2027 (Just before flying to Hengsha he is diverted to another mission) : romantic fling with Lady Katrina Sutherland, who is almost as augmented as Adam is, after a horse riding accident. She dies saving his life.

2027: Events of Missing link, where he discovers the organisation The Juggernaut Collective and a figure known as Janus.

2027 (near end of year?): He finds Megan and her team after investigations lead him all over the world.

2027 (end of year, little ice in Arctic due to global warming, not summer time) : the Aug incident happens. He stops Darrow and destroys Panchaea, seemingly drowning in the aftermath.

2027 : A week after the Incident and collapse of Panchaea, the rescue effort is changed to recovery and two days later a secret military team combs over the wreckage, finding Jensen.

2028 - 35yrs old: Adam wakes from coma in facility 451 in Alaska. 'Told his Sentinel kept him alive'. Gaps in his memory plague him, and he escapes with the help of Francis and Stacks, another patient. Jenna Thorne is an illuminati agent posing as a gov agent.

2028/ 2029 35/36yrs old- (December into Jan possibly description) : Detroit - Adam works with Francis to help stop old Sarif tech being stolen by thieves working for the Illuminati. Involves TF29 and Juggernaut involvement. Stacks dies after having a flashback to the Incident.

2029 36yrs old - (January maybe) : Because of events, Adam agrees to join TF29 US branch. Also joins Juggernaut Collective secretly.

2029 -End of Febuary - Criminal Past mission reportedly happens in Arizona, where Jensen goes undercover in a top max prison to find Hector.

2029 March/April? - Jensen moves to Czechia - Prague (Praha), transfers to Prague branch of TF29 under Miller.

2029 April?- First mission for Prague TF29 in Dresden, prevents an augmented terrorist using children as soldiers.

2029 Late October? : - Jensen does the Dubai mission and then events happen in Prague.

2029 November? : (takes 2 days from Prague to the safe harbour convention in London) London apex centre, foils plot. Returns to Prague a week later.

[vlad-theimplier]

WIP Wednesday: Custos Custodium

Still getting into the habit--have a WIP snapshot! Jensen must have had a first visit to the Time Machine, and I have to imagine that he and Koller made quite the impression on one another. Check out the whole fic here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55686901/chapters/141357007

"After me now, please,” and Koller tugged his shoulder with ginger metal fingers. He walked through what was obviously a secret doorway and heard it close behind him, waiting politely to open his eyes until they entered an elevator that dinged and descended with a grinding lurch.

They stepped out into a charnel house in blood and iron, and he feared he’d come to entirely the wrong sort of place after all. A set of modern dentist’s lights on articulated arms spotlit a vintage dentist’s chair, all cracked leather and chrome: clean, but surrounded by red streaks leading to a floor drain in the concrete nearby. Screens holding CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, and other imaging Jensen didn’t recognize stood around the disconcerting centerpiece. Five monitors sat edge-to-edge on the desk along one wall, backstopping a graveyard of takeout containers and soda cans that made Jensen’s old apartment look neat and Pritchard’s desk at Sarif Industries look neurotically tidy. Skeletal chicken feet jutted from several of the boxes, their bony toes held together by scraps of cartilage and tendon that had curled them as they dried.

From the ceiling hung sealed bags in droves, clearly opened and reused, each one holding an augmentation of some kind. Arms, legs, feet, eyeballs alone and in pairs, neural hubs… the array was dizzying. More augs stood in glass cases dotting the floor. Vials of Neuropozyne and a score of other substances stood in glass-fronted cabinets, a few refrigerated. A pair of wheeled carts sat haphazardly near them, stacked with gauze and bandages, needle and thread, soldering iron and cutting torch.

Sticky notes wallpapered the support pillars and posters for augmentation firms looked down from over the computer screens, all curling from their bottom corners. Water trickled somewhere nearby. Jensen smelled rust and damp and realized they were near the sewers, although fortunately not a malodorous section of them. He clenched his jaw in dismay.

“Well, let me have a look!” Koller said. “Into the Chair, come on, come on, I want to see what’s under your hood!”

Jensen held up a quelling hand. “I didn’t come here to get opened up like a can of beans. I need a… a system reset, or something. I had a bad injury, was in a coma for a while, and when I came out, I couldn’t use half my augs.”

Koller looked like a kicked puppy. Jensen watched him wring his metal hands and thought he might burst into tears. But he only heaved a gusty sigh and said, “Okay, okay, not today. But someday!” He raised a dramatic finger. “Someday you will need the Chair, and the Chair will be waiting for you. And I’ll give you a hand. Or two, or three.”

Koller’s gaze flicked to a rack that Jensen realized held replacement hands and arms for detailed aug work. Saws and drills and drivers and probes and laser scalpels… He shuddered, as much at the thought of hot-swapping entire limbs as at the armamentarium of terrifying devices on display.

They each sank into a much more normal office chair. “So, show me what’s on your mind,” Koller said, pulling out a neural interface cable. Jensen groaned and thumbed open the port on his temple, the hexagonal divot sliding sideways and bunching up the skin. “Aha, ha, I’m sorry,” said Koller as he leaned forward and plugged in the jack, patently nothing of the sort. “It helps me keep my English skills in good shape. Puns are hard, you know? It is like an exercise, a workout. Pun-ishing, yes? Yes?”

Jensen groaned again. “Just reboot my hub or whatever you need to do.”

But Koller was not listening. “Oh… that’s interesting. That’s very interesting now indeed. Hmmm. Ooh, so fancy, Mister Sarif. Someday I will shake your hand. Maybe open it up and look inside, too… hmmmmm…”

He broke into a tuneless whistle as he hammered at his computer, diagrams flashing across the monitors. Jensen recognized several from the manual Dr. Markovic had given him when he woke up in Detroit. “Icarus, very cool, very cool, yes. I bet it is dramatic when you use it. You’ll let me see sometime. Energy converter is most efficient, good, for all your power needs. And big biocells, too—who needs two kidneys anyway? Redundant. Sentinel, okay, nice, we do not need to waste anesthesia on you—”

“Excuse me?”

That got Koller’s attention. “Ah, yes, well, it is only… I don’t have very much. Painkillers, sure, but to put someone underneath?”

“Under.”

“Under, thank you—this is something I do only when I have to.”

His sources had been clear. Koller was the best there was in Prague, probably in the Czech Republic. He had only a few competitors in all of continental Europe. Jensen gritted his teeth. “The Icarus is glitchy. My smart vision and my cloak aren’t working at all.”

Koller’s eyes lit up, surprisingly still organic. “Cloak? Cloak! GlassShield is the Sarif one, yes? Ah, so cool… yes, yes, I’m looking. Eyes first. Should be easy. Blind for thirty seconds, okay?”

Despite Koller’s erratic, frenetic energy and bloodstained floor, that was more informed consent than he’d ever gotten from Dr. Markovic or Sarif. “Yeah. Go ahead.”

“Tři, dva, jeden…” Darkness. He suppressed a flinch and counted breaths. In, out, in, out. It was like staring down the pit of Panchaea, underwater, before he’d looked desperately upwards and seen the sky, that tiny, distant, hopeless hope—nope. Just breathe. In, out. In, out. His eyes turned back on like a thrown switch. In and out and he was okay.

“Try now!” Koller said, oblivious to his brush with panic. He clenched his eyeballs in the way that made smart vision activate, and there indeed it was.

“Nice. Good work.”

Koller preened visibly, then ducked his head, abashed. “No problem. I turn it off and on again, it’s all. Now Icarus… Hmmm. Okay, I see him. Mister Sarif is maybe not so smart as I thought. This one is tricky because reboot will require immediate activation. I will use laptop—we can go to the roof.”

“Activation… Christ. You’re joking.”

“I never joke!” said Koller, hand to his heart. “Okay, sometimes I joke. A lot. But not about patients. It’s seven or eight meters—those legs will be fine if anything goes wrong. Not that it will!”

“Save it for last, I guess. The cloak?”

Koller’s fingers hammered his keyboard again. “Running diagnostic… and… oh. Needs recalibration. Augmentation has forgotten shape of user and creates conflict with shape of cloak field. I will provide manual override, if you want, but calibration is easy.”

“Manual override?”

“Takes more energy but lets you expand or contract the cloak field. Physics means only some changes are possible. Meanwhile, I hit calibrate, you stand in the middle of empty space, and the field detects its own interference with you. No problem.”

“Sure. Give it to me.”

A new icon appeared in his HUD before shrinking away to nothing. “Play with it when you like. Now, I set for thirty-second delay, and… go.” Koller unplugged the cable and ushered him past a cluttered little bedroom to a flat, uncluttered patch of concrete near the sewer. He stood and waited, still as a statue. His cloak activated, but rather than hiding him, it picked out the surface of his body and clothes in golden tessellations. They rippled over him, a geometric wave of light, before fading away.

“Will it still hide my guns?” he asked.

“Yes, profiles for most weapons are built-in, or the cloak will read them from the smart link. This is for baseline. You should be okay now! Try it! I want to see. Or, see not seeing? Is like Cheshire man, I think. Smile!”

He did not smile, let alone match Koller’s manic grin, but he triggered the cloak. It worked, all right, and he became smoothly invisible to himself—although the damn thing still chewed through his energy reserves. He turned it off promptly. Koller was hopping up and down with delight, clapping his hands with a metallic clangor.

“So coooooool… okay! Now you jump off the roof, yes? Yes!”

Jensen buried his face in his palms. “Yeah. Fine. Let’s go.”

[twistedtummies2]

Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes - Number 28

Welcome to A Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes! During this month-long event, I’ll be counting my Top 31 Favorite Fictional Detectives, from movies, television, literature, video games, and more!

SLEUTH-OF-THE-DAY’S QUOTE: “Change never comes without pain.”

Number 28 is…Adam Jensen, from Deus Ex.

A specific friend of mine introduced me to the Deus Ex games, via their two most recent releases: “Human Revolution” and “Mankind Divided,” both of which apparently act as prequels to the rest of the series. I know absolutely nothing about all the other games in the franchise, but as far as these two games go…I think they’re pretty interesting! The games are a sort of combo of sci-fi and film noir, taking place in a futuristic world where many human beings have “augmented” themselves with bionic materials, for various reasons. In each game, your main character is this guy: Adam Jensen, a frankly much better cyborganic sleuth than Inspector Gadget. Then again, I think a pencil would make a better cyborganic sleuth than Inspector Gadget, and it’s neither a cyborg NOR a sleuth, so…take that as you will.

Anyway: voiced by Elias Toufexis (who apparently is a big fan of noir and pulp style fiction, such as The Shadow), Jensen starts off in “Human Revolution” as a security investigator for a tech company called Sarif Industries. After being horribly wounded in an attack on the company, Jensen is augmented without his consent, and his girlfriend – Megan – is apparently killed. Despite his MANY reservations, Jensen goes out to try and discover exactly what happened, using his newfound augmentations to help him along the way. His investigations lead to him uncovering a vast conspiracy, with ties to the Illuminati, of all things. In “Mankind Divided,” Jensen has left Sarif Industries in favor of working for Interpol, acting as an agent for an elite anti-terrorist squad. He once again runs afoul of the Illuminati in the process of investigating a railway bombing, and once more goes on the hunt to find the perpetrators, using his special tools and skills to track down the criminals. Along the way, in both titles, Jensen also comes across various other cases and side missions, each of which show the different dark corners of the world he lives in.

A big part of both games – and, from what I understand, the Deus Ex franchise as a whole – is the theme of what makes a person truly human. In a world where people are replacing their limbs and organs en-masse with “superior,” artificial contraptions, how much can you do to the human body before it stops BEING a human body? What makes an individual different from the crowd, and what separates people from the machines we build? How much choice and free will does one really have in the world? These are themes integral to both science fiction AND noir-style detective stories, and both titles meld the two genres exquisitely. Jensen, his allies, and the foes he faces present different viewpoints on a world like this, and offer different perspectives on this fundamental question.

Jensen is a classic detective character of this sort; he’s like a cross between the aforementioned Cole Phelps and a superhero of some sort. He’s not unwilling to use violence and direct force on his enemies, and he has plenty of firepower to go around, but much of each game is really about him tracking leads, picking out clues, and asking questions as he tries to get to the bottom of the truth of each matter. These are a couple of those lovely video games where the choices the player makes throughout the story – from simply deciding whether to use stealth or full-faced aggressive tactics, to deciding what messages to share with the people of the world – effect the plot and other characters’ perception of the main protagonist. But even with that said, Jensen has several things that remain consistent: his dry, sarcastic sense of humor, his stonefaced demeanor, and his somewhat cynical outlook on his own life. Perhaps the most noteworthy element, however, is his sense of independence. It’s interesting and fitting that Adam’s journey effectively begins with him being forced into situations beyond his control, because from that point on, you could argue his entire mission in both stories is to find exactly that. Jensen prefers to work alone, as much as possible, and clearly resents being put in the position he is. How he comes to feel about his augmentations, and the concept of augmented people in general, can change depending on how the player handles things, but overall it’s fair to say that, for all the advantages they give him, he also knows they have clear disadvantages, too. As the story of each game grows more complex, so do the choices Jensen has to face. As a result, the player goes from having no choice in what happens to having incredible responsibility heaped onto their shoulders. It’s a unique progression for both the character and each game in general, and it’s part of what makes this sci-fi sleuth so memorable.

Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 27!

CLUE: “The world will look up and shout ‘Save us!’ And I’ll whisper, ‘No.’”

[ofwolvesandshatteredshields]

Playing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided again and again delighted by how this series treats people's cyborg-ization (i.e. "augmentation"). The portrayal of societal effects of augmentation are, shall we say, a bit heavy-handed, but the personal/individual portrayals are really good.

One of my favorite scenes is early on. Adam's taken some damage and needs repairs from an expert, a happy-go-lucky machinist in a punk rock jacket named Koller. Adam has to be unconscious for this so he sits back in a chair and shuts his eyes while Koller goes to work.

There's no cutscene of the repairs. Instead your eyes drift blearily open. Koller is freaking OUT. He's scrambling and dropping his tools. He won't tell you what's wrong. Your HUD isn't showing up. He asks if you want some water. What a stupid question at a time like this. You accept, because there is literally nothing else you can do.

When you wake up you learn that there is a bunch of high tech shit inside your body that no one told you about before. Koller asks when it might have been installed, and Adam notes a period after his rescue from the Panchaea explosion from which he remembers little. This echoes the time in the first game after his rescue from the Sarif Industries assault when he had most of his body—including three healthy limbs—replaced with cybernetics by his employer, without knowledge (let alone consent) from Adam himself. Adam goes, "I'm starting to think I hate being unconscious."

It's a rather uneasy take on the whole "cybernetic superman" trope. Flesh is you, grows with you and changes with you. Cybernetics are built by somebody else and welded on by somebody besides that—people with their own goals and intents that don't necessarily align with yours, and who might very well have more control over your own body than you do. When it is much easier to disregard a person's bodily autonomy, of course it will be disregarded by those who can get away with it. The messy truth is that despite visions of a machine utopia, humans can never be entirely removed from the equation.

[shadowsshowdown]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Shadow’s Showdown 32

The Return.

Washington.

While heading to the Control Room, Laura bumped everyone she encountered on her way, including Connor. The man was unable to catch up with her, so he decided to go straight to the hotel and wait there. The woman carelessly packed her things and left the building. It was over, Adam showed his true face and how much she really meant to him. Standing at the door of the room she nervously looked for her key card not knowing there was someone else in the hall.

"Are you going to tell me what happened or should I force it on you?" the man asked while keeping his distance from her. "Fuck off, I don't feel like confiding," she growled furiously, sliding her card through the reader slot.

Connor managed to get in before she could close the door in front of his nose. She tried to punch him with her fists and kick him, but he overpowered Laura with a few swift moves. She already knew he must have had some training, maybe even been a security guard before working at Sarif Industries. She also knew that any violent movement risked breaking an arm or leg so she limited herself to just lay on the floor admiring the fibres of the beige carpet.

"You can talk to Adam like that, but not to me. I haven't done anything to you, and you attack me like a rabid animal," he said in a rough tone filled with anger. "You barged into my room, that's enough," she hissed. "Now let me go and get the fuck out of here." "I'm not letting go until you change your tone, much less go away," he replied a tad more calmly. "What happened in there?"

Seeing Laura start to break down and her anger gives way to the grief he decided to let her go, he even reached out a hand to help her get up. Surprisingly she didn't refuse. The woman sat on the bed hiding her face in her hands. She didn't know where to start or at all how Connor would take her words.

"Adam got mad. That was to be expected. Many unkind words were said about whores and such. I wanted to hit him, but I didn't succeed. Then I walked out and that was it," she finally shrugged her shoulders. "You two are acting like kids," Connor sighed sitting down next to her. "And what are you going to do now?" he asked looking at her carefully. "I'm going back to Detroit," she replied in a firm tone. "You'll take over my duties. Everything has already been done anyway so this is just a formality," she stood up and went to get her suitcase into which she began carelessly throwing clothes. "This isn't a solution just an escape," he stated, walking up to Laura and grabbed her arm in a firm motion."Let me go," she muttered, trying to yank it away. "I've already decided, and you won't be able to stop me." "How are you going to get back there? On foot?" he snarled taking a few steps back. "By foot, by bus, by hitch, by plane, by whatever," she enumerated as the panties, the dress from the party, and Adam's shirt, she'd accidentally had to take, landed in her suitcase. "I'll call my pilot and ask him to take you. I won't let you go back alone," he said grabbing her shoulders. "Thank you," she quietly said escaping with a sideways glance. The man reached for his phone in the back pocket of his grey jeans, scrolling through his contact list for a moment until he found the pilot's number. He walked around the room with the smartphone held to his ear and his free hand wrapped around the chest. "Hi Markus, are you free today?" he asked hoping for the answer he expected. "Yeah? That's great. Listen, could you fly down to D.C.? I'd like you to take Miss Werner to Detroit," Connor listened nodding slowly. "That's great, thanks I owe you one."

When he ended the call, he immediately met Laura's angry gaze and sighed hiding the phone.

"I don't like those squinted eyes, furrowed brows, and furiously twisted lips. What is it this time?" he asked completely calmly, he was even amused. "You owe someone a favour because of me. I don't like it," she replied, intertwining her arms across her chest. "It's not my problem any more, miss spoiled," he retorted smiling cheekily at the same time. "You..." she broke off without finding the right word. She threw the first thing she had at hand at him, but the man caught it without much effort and examined it closely. "Tampons Miss Werner? That's unreasonable, you may need them and quite soon," he commented clearly amused throwing back the box. "You’ve got an hour!" he announced while playing with the coin, slowly disappearing behind the door.

Life had taught her that nothing was free so all the while she searched for a reason why Connor was helping her so much. Unfortunately, she couldn't find one. His comment, surprisingly, didn't cause anger at all, more embarrassment.

Adam was furious, it had been a long time since anyone had brought him out of balance as Laura had done. But until now he had felt rage in a completely different way. If the hacker had stayed a moment longer, their argument would have ended on the desk among the papers, pens, and empty paper coffee cups. Between "Oh Mr. Jensen" and moans of ecstasy. Fortunately, it didn't come to that. He promised himself that if they ever got to this stage he would do it right. The man collected the papers in an even pile, slipped them into his bag where his laptop was already, and left. He was terribly hungry, but he did not stop at the restaurant. He wanted to talk to Laura first, calmly and without any bad emotions. They were both overreacting, and he was sure she felt the same way. He left his bag at his place and knocked several times on the door of her room but no one answered. He figured she probably didn't want to see him, which didn't surprise him at all.

"Laura's not here," he heard Connor's voice behind him. "She's on her way back to Detroit."

Jensen turned around in a split second, grabbed the man by the shirt, and impetuously pushed him against the wall.

"Idiot! You let her go back alone?!" he yelled clenching his teeth.

He wanted to punch him but stopped his fist in mid-air.

"You're way too nervous, Adam," he muttered. "Of course I wouldn't let her go alone. I called for my pilot, so she's probably boarding the VTOL by now."

Adam didn't reply, momentarily letting go of him, and rushed down the corridor towards the stairs. He ran down, hopping a few stairs at a time, bumped someone of his subordinates in the doorway, but didn't have time to apologize. At the roar of car honks, he ran across the street, jumped over the barrier at the gate to the Conference Center, and rushed to the landing pad.

"Laura!" he shouted as he saw her putting the last piece of her luggage into the cargo hold. "Wait! Please!"

Jensen didn't know if she couldn't hear him or was just ignoring him. He kept his distance because the VTOL was just taking off. The ex-SWAT watched as it dwindled on the horizon and his pain grew and swelled bursting him from the inside out. Adam cursed not once, not twice but a dozen times. He reached into his coat pocket for his phone and dialed Malik's number.

"Hi, Adam. How's the progress with Laura?" she asked immediately and her directness squeezed him monstrously by the throat. "Laura will be in Detroit soon," he announced quietly. "What do you mean she'll be in Detroit?!" Faridah shouted so loudly that Adam had to move the phone away from his ear. "It's a long story," he sighed. "Anyway, it's even worse than before I left." "I don't happen to have flights, so I'll hang around the helipad. Maybe we manage to talk, although I'm still mad at her after... you know." Malik dropped the subject, not wanting to make their mood even worse for both of them. “Bye!”

Jensen had to get back to work, he had an awful lot of it today. He couldn't focus on what others were saying to him for anything. Every try of reading the mail ended in getting stuck on the first word. Adam blamed himself for Laura’s running away, even though it was unprofessional and irresponsible. He had pushed her to make that decision with his own hands. Surely they could have explained everything if he hadn't started the conversation by yelling. He slammed his clenched fist against the table and hissed in pain. The Head of Security looked at the bandage wrapped around his sore hand wondering why he hadn't told her the truth. Two days was a hell of a lot. He already knew he would be haunted by the recent events and memories they had created together. In the evening he went for a walk in the Zen garden that Laura had shown him as if it would change anything. He wanted to smoke but didn't out of respect for the place. He walked over to the island and sat on a bench for no particular reason. At that moment, his whole life suddenly made no sense.

Detroit.

The VTOL was slowly losing altitude and gracefully descended onto the helipad. Laura felt she could finally breathe because no one was walking behind her with a set of good advice. The woman breathed deeply as soon as she was outside. She wanted to grab her luggage, but the pilot helped her out.

"Thank you," she said as nothing else came to mind and smiled slightly at the tall man with beer-color eyes and short-cut dark chocolate-colored hair. He was dressed in a gray and red corporate jumpsuit. She estimated the man might be Adam's age or not much older.

"A trifle," he replied courteously, nodded sparingly, and was about to return to the pilot's seat. "Sorry for the inconvenience, I wasn't planning on coming back," Laura tried to explain, she felt she should. "It's no trouble at all. I enjoy flying, and I have extremely few flights today," he explained. "Markus Manfred," he introduced himself by extending his hand to her. "Laura Werner," she replied, reciprocating the gesture. She wanted to continue the conversation but a call from the flight control station sounded from inside the cockpit.

Markus looked at her apologetically. "I was just complaining about being bored," he laughed and helped her with the luggage.

When Laura entered the company the VTOL was already in the air. She hoped she didn't run into Faridah because she would have to answer dozens of questions which would end in another war. Laura risked stopping in her office to leave the drone, she wouldn't need it anymore anyway. She wanted to pick up Stalker on her way home and a box under her arm wouldn’t make this simpler. The hacker dashed towards the stairs as fast as she could, ran downstairs, and was outside in a moment. The gloomy streets of Detroit did not improve her mood. She stopped for a moment by one of the bus stops to catch her breath. As Laura crossed the street, she heard her phone demanding attention so she reluctantly pulled it out of her jacket pocket while already on the other side of the street.

I heard you were back, but I didn't catch you at the company. Call me back. We need to talk. ASAP! F.

Laura sighed already knowing that Adam had to tell her everything. She definitely did not want this meeting and was going to push this moment away for as long as possible. Immediately after picking up the cat, she thought an evening at Crann Tara would help her mood, so she quickened her pace. Her gloom grew with every step the woman took. Laura knew she would never see Adam again after this, much as she wanted to. She ran away, just like that. It was the only thing she had mastered to perfection. All the time she made excuses for him and forgave every bad word. All the time she was the one to blame.

The hacker threw her keys on the hall closet, set the cage on the ground, and let the cat out. As she removed her jacket, Stalker left the cage with some caution, looking around. As she took off her shoes, the cat announced with a loud meow his desire to eat. Laura shook her head and went into the kitchen to fulfill the cat’s wish. She immediately stripped off her clothes on her way to the bathroom, reflexively looking out the window toward Adam's apartment. She closed her eyes and let out a loud mouthful of air, realizing how idiotic she was acting, after all, he was in D.C. The woman went to the shower, trying to keep it to a necessary minimum. Laura dried her hair and tied it into a ponytail, though she knew it would look terrible later. The woman dressed in clean underwear, as if she was about to go on a date which would end up with unforgettable sex. She found black jeans in her closet, worn through at the thighs, and a honey-colored sweater.

Stop hiding! Our meeting is inevitable! F.

She read another message with displeasure. Unfortunately, Faridah was right, if fate favors her they will meet on Monday. By that moment she should have a solid line of defense. In the meantime, Laura abandoned thoughts of what she would tell her. She put on her boots, wrapped a scarf around her neck, and put on her jacket. When Stalker came out of the kitchen Laura was already gone.

Crann Tara.

Half an hour later, she was greeted by the bartender's smile coupled with the question of whether she was ordering her usual. The woman nodded affirmatively, paid, and with a glass of whisky, walked down the stairs to the basement. The hacker had already forgotten that in this place she could have met Rupert and was horrified to find him sitting against the wall. Only after a while did she hear the subtle sound of a guitar coming from the other end of the room. She walked closer and sat down at a table near the left wall next to a bookcase.

You stood at the edge last night The dark came in A need for closure Crept under your skin You planned it for days Simple and clear Struggling was over Past the point of fear Did somebody's prayer get to The will to live in you? You pulled through You pulled through So this new morning Trust in your heart

Rupert's voice was so calm and the choice of the song seemed to be no accident as if he knew she was coming and had prepared for this meeting. She wanted to get up and leave, to run away but his gaze found her. Laura couldn't back out anymore.

And know that your life Is your great work of art With respect to the light And the darkness above May the root of this day Be love Be love Be love Did somebody's prayer get to The will to live in you? You pulled through You pulled through You survived You survived You're here another day Of precious life You survive You survive You survive

She listened to him, clutching the glass in her hands, from which she did not even drink a sip. Rupert spoke to her through the lyrics, reaching into the darkest parts of her soul. She felt as if someone carrying a light had found her huddled and frightened in a corner of the room. It was as if someone simply reached out a hand to her and she grabbed it. Laura didn't know when the tears flowed down her cheeks. She couldn't control it.

"Don't be ashamed of it. Tears cleanse," she heard his warm voice as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

He reminded her so much of her father, though she didn't know Rupert at all beyond what Adam had told her. The man returned to his table and tucked his guitar into its case. Laura felt as if the imprint of his hand had torn through her clothes and left a warm mark on her skin, which was now beginning to cool, turning into an icy breeze. The woman looked back, MacKenzie grinned and invited her to his table signaling it with a polite hand gesture. Laura hesitated for a moment, but subconsciously felt she wanted to talk to someone, or at least to sit.

The Scot didn't urge Laura to do anything. He just sat pretending to be immersed in reading. The hacker did not know how she should behave. If Adam or Connor had been now in his place, she would have made a fuss about them ignoring her. She had the impression that the psychologist was waiting for something and was being patient to the limit. His quietness was downright annoying.

"Don't you like silence?" he asked with amusement in his voice. "I hate it," she muttered, at which the man put down his book. "Too bad. You can learn a lot from it." The woman frowned, she had never heard such nonsense in her life. "Then what did you find out?" "First, I suggest we forget about the formalities. Rupert. Rupert MacKenzie," he held out his hand to her. "Laura Werner, but you already know that anyway," she muttered reciprocating the gesture. "I do, but I prefer to get to know others personally," he explained. "Back to the silence. I've learned you're impatient. Someone's silence drives you crazy because you don't know what comes from it. Silence acts as a catalyst for your mind. You begin to ponder why not a single word is spoken. Am I boring? Unattractive? Not worthy of attention? What am I guilty of, because it's my fault? For when you're alone in the midst of silence, everything is fine, you feel safe, cut off from the world, you don't have to explain anything."

The hacker lowered her gaze, focusing it on the honey liquid filling the glass. It was still untouched.

"You wanted to drown your problems in a glass of whisky, but you discovered that it wouldn't change anything. For a moment you will feel the obstacles are gone, the chains have broken and you are free. When the alcohol wears off, reality will return and it will be even more cruel than before."

The woman twitched slightly when the phone in her jacket pocket rang out with a protracted vibration. She knew it was Faridah again demanding answers.

"Ignoring friends and acquaintances is not a good solution either," Rupert was merciless as usual. Laura wanted to tell him to get stuffed and stop meddling in her private affairs, but she couldn't. He was damn right in every word he said and he didn't sound at all like the freak psychologist she thought he was. "I didn't mean to be rude, which is why I didn't reach for the phone," she tried to explain.

MacKenzie only smiled knowing full well that the woman was lying. However, he decided to disregard the remark with a deep silence. After all, he wanted to encourage Laura to talk, not scare her away by prying too much. Besides, he was the one who spoke the most. He was glad Adam wasn't here, he noticed the woman was less nervous than when she was here with the other man. "Go ahead, feel free," he encouraged her to check the message. The hacker woman had no other choice. She had to at least pretend to read, and if it was Faridah she'd stop at pretending.

We should talk when I get back. Please. A.

Rupert caught that nervous movement, that off-balance, and fear in Laura's eyes. He didn't have to think long about how much two plus two was.

"I had a fight with Adam that's why I went back to Detroit."

Scot just listened and watched her lips tremble as she nervously turned the glass in her hands.

"He has different ways of solving problems, and I have different ones. He's so monstrously formal, rigid, and thick-skinned. A lot of unkind words have been said. I don't know if he regrets them, probably not. Who cares about some dirty rag?"

MacKenzie straightened up in his chair, slowly beginning to understand what the woman was trying to convey to him in this twisted, cryptic way. He could hear her desperate cries for help like an SOS signal sent by a lone boat battling a raging storm on the open sea. He wanted to help her, not out of medical obligation but just out of pure human sympathy. Unfortunately, she was the one who had to take that first step.

"Even a dirty rag can be clean again, as it was before," he said calmly. "Whatever took place, I'm sure it can be explained. You just have to be able to listen to the silence and find it in the midst of the screaming." "If only it were that simple," she muttered, only now taking a sip of whisky. "I assure you it is simple. If you don't try later, you will dwell on why you missed the chance. If you decide to try then, you will tell yourself that you did everything you could but it didn't work out."

"I should go," she said, drinking the rest of the whisky at once and stood up. Rupert knew it was a symptom of panicked escape and immense confusion, but he couldn't do anything, he didn't want to. "Of course," he nodded slightly. "If you want to talk about anything, give me a call," he added handing her a rectangular business card with an address and phone number.

The woman hesitated, she could feel the deceit in it and at the same time the fatherly concern. Rupert was not urging or forcing her to do anything. He was simply being polite but showed no mercy. She took that first step by taking the business card, said goodbye, and left.

Laura's apartment.

At home, she read Adam's message a dozen times but didn't dare to write back. Lying on the bed she played with Rupert's business card. After a moment's hesitation, she sent a reply and put the phone back on the nightstand.

We have nothing to talk about. L.

The bedroom was drowning in darkness. The unpacked suitcase stood against the wall, reminding her of everything. She left one shoe in the living room and the other by the bed. Her jacket was barely hanging on the back of the chair. Laura had fallen asleep in her clothes, and Stalker curled up in a pretzel right next to her.

All  chapters can be found: [AO3], [dA], [Wattpad] and [Tumblr]

[faridahmalik]

HMMM blorbos: the dxhr trio, Angel

Gold Circles are all of them, Orange is Pritch, Red is Faridah- and the diamond is Adam.

As we all know, dear ol' Team Sarif is so very darling to me, and last weeks attempt at mankind divided was... a LOT. Hence the writer's dropped the ball, lost potential, etc. It's already giving me a headache. Now while not the hyper-fixation to end all hyper-fixations any more, they still are a good bit of background white noise and I adore them. Faridah could get away with murder, she's so fucking pretty. however though while I wish for more canon I'm also like... 'maybe it's for the best' I would probably try to strangle Pritch but also since my decent into IT I also am like '...you have junior techs my man why are you dealing with some of this shit, no wonder you're so fuckin tired' and I have to wonder what the fuck Sarif industries ticket system looks like. Jestures to Jensen. He has had crimes done to him and done crimes as well. but he did not deserve any of this shit.

Look Angel deserves the world and the fact all she gets is death makes me so fucking sad. I'm not sure I'd classify it as dropped the ball completely- but it is LOST POTENTIAL.

[couldtheycatchkira]

So oo'zhas... It seems that Adam Jensen, our contact from Sarif Industries, has been- He's not affiliated with Sarif anymore? So he's... Sans Sarif? ...Nothing? Eh, can't win them all. Well, this TF29 agent has been found to be unable to catch Kira OR survive! I suppose being a cyborg doesn't exactly stop you from being mostly organic, and he HAS to be at least mostly well-known. You don't just become a cyborg against your will without some press coverage, I think. At that point, you're just asking to make a deposit in the body bank...

[pedroam-bang]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011)

[rallamajoop]

PG, 2050 words

Pritchard isn't too surprised to find Sarif Industries' newest employee hovering awkwardly in his doorway, arms folded across his chest. Adam's—Jensen's—features were never built with emotions like 'sheepishness' in mind, but they're giving it a go. His body language says he's either here to apologise or pick a fight, either of which suits Pritchard just fine. "Hey," Jensen says, uncertainly. "Look, I'm... sorry about before." The words come out haltingly; his is clearly not a voice with a lot of practice at apologising. "I only just put it together where I was supposed to..." He lets out a huff. "Frank, damn—Francis, right?"

a.k.a. The One Where Pritchard Had A More Personal Reason For Hating Jensen On Sight

Read from start

Possibly this is one of those concepts that should qualify as crack, but which I couldn't resist trying to play (semi-)straight anyway. *g*

[sunsetagain]

wip of DBH comic: Byzantine Generals  

started playing Deus Ex Human Revolution (2011) based in Detroit 2027 

so a Detroit Become Human xover because why not 

Adam!900

FINISHED WORK HERE

[aecholapis]

Helios as a Sarif Industries helicopter...

Helios is the fusion of Claude von Riegan and Adam Jensen