#sarif industries

[pedroam-bang]

Faridah Malik - Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011)

[aecholapis]

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

[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.

[eridanidreams]

OC ASKS FOR SLOANE

3) What song describes your OC?

11) What was your inspiration for your OC?

20) If they fight, what's their weapon of choice?

26) What flower do you associate your OC with?

3) What song describes your OC?

Adrenaline, by Gavin Rossdale (xXx OST).

She's not the kind to lay down and die.

11) What was your inspiration for your OC?

I was halfway through MD, and I suddenly wanted to write something for it. It started with looking at the themes I really wanted to play with. Mirrors/reflections/shadows is always, of course, a big one. Bodily autonomy and agency. Secrets, lies, and the space between. And I knew I wanted it to be a cyberthriller romance (say that 5 times fast). The heart of which, of course, has to be the relationship between the deuteragonists.

I knew Adam and his LI needed to be equals. Shadowed, distorted reflections of each other. That meant, on a story level, that her character needed to be a mirror of his, her arc needed to mirror his, and she should probably start as a foil. Which meant Aria and Malik were off the table. (And Malik gave me best-friends vibes anyway.)

That gave me the starting point of an augmented badass to match Adam. Military, as a reflection/contrast of Adam's police. Special Forces, the reflection of Adam's SWAT. At that point, some of the "what-ifs" started popping up and colliding.

What if… there was an experimental biochip made with Adam's DNA, because that's where Sarif was going with the technology, he just wasn't ready to unveil it. It wasn't even on site when the Tyrants hit SI.

What if… he had to use it for someone? Someone he wanted to protect, someone he loved. And since there's no mention of family in DXHR (I don't personally consider the HR comic as canon; it doesn't fit well), it would be a secret family member. A child. (And since it's a romance and at the time I was a little uncertain about writing slash, that meant a daughter.) But why would she be a secret? She'd have been born early in his career, before he became David Sarif, tech billionaire.

What if… her mother was an Illuminata? In fact, had gotten into the relationship to 'guide' a promising young visionary down the 'right' roads. And when he didn't play ball, she left. With the daughter. She's a secret because she's leverage, and because if he says anything about the Illuminati, they might very well harm her. He watched his daughter grow up from a distance via private detectives and other proxies. And when she went into the military…

What if… he was worried about her, so constantly kept a special set of augmentations to use if she were ever critically injured. He could get them to her secretly through Army channels, given his defense industry contacts. And when the worst happened in 2027, that included… the experimental biochip.

Everything else just kind of worked its way out from there.

20) If they fight, what's their weapon of choice?

Oh, Sloane fights. And at need, she'll fight with anything that comes to hand, including empty hands. But her preferred weapon is a good knife.

26) What flower do you associate your OC with?

Black gladiolus, aka the sword-lily. Lily, of course, has French connections, and the 'black' gladiolus is actually blood-colored shading to a black edge.

[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.

[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.

[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: Chapter 1

The Grumpy Cerberus.

Detroit, Laura’s apartment.

It was late afternoon when Laura’s smartphone started to ring. She didn't want to answer the call, but Pritchard didn't like to wait either. Besides, she needed a job, so playing too much with her boss wasn't a good way to keep it. Luckily Laura managed to know Frank enough during those few weeks of working under his command so that she was aware of how far can she push the line.

"Laura it's urgent! See you at my office, you've got 10 minutes!" Frank yelled from a loudspeaker as he always does.

Laura was forced to leave reading her favourite book about hacking tricks for later. She lazily put it back on the table and finished cold coffee. „Archn3rd0 can wait a few minutes. There’s always a lot of fuss about nothing.” She thought while slipping into a green turtleneck, and a blue high-waist skirt. „Farewell, comfy clothes.” That’s what seemed to express her face. Finding shoes was a great challenge. Laura’s apartment may be luxurious, and not cheap at all, but at least she can keep it messy because nobody visits her. Laura Werner talking to you live from… Mordor. That's a good way to describe this mess.

"Stalker, you idiot!" She growled with fury at her black cat. Because of him, she would almost lose her teeth.

Fighting with long, brown-reddish hair consumed most of the precious time. Frank interrupted that battle with text messages. Asshole sent ten of them within a minute. Finally, she pinned hair in a bun, giving the final touch with a magnolia-shaped hairpin. Soon Laura was ready to go. With few books under her arm and a file in her teeth, she locked the door with the key. Miss Werner was an old-fashioned girl, a weirdo, they say. Going down the staircase, she heard the Newmans yelling at each other. The Cornwel family apparently had a party downstairs. Loud music was pouring out on the corridor, mixed with laughing and raised voices. Maybe she would drop by, but the track list wasn't really what Laura likes the most.

Before walking down the wide street, she looked ahead, admiring the Chiron apartment building for a moment.

„They have such a great life.” Thought with a heavy sigh.

On the way to her working place, she was passing by a dark alley, where groups of shady types were making the deals. The reek of weed, cigarettes, and spilled beer was terribly annoying. She always tried to avoid places like this one. You can't tell what those guys can be capable of. Prostitutes were leaning against the walls of gloomy skyscrapers raised on both sides of the road. People were talking about the weather, politics, and mostly about augs. Some of their chatting were muffled by passing cars. Laura looked up, longing for the blue sky, which was barely visible because of dense clouds.

„When I’ll be old I want to live in a small house with a garden, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I will sit on the porch, drink cocoa, and stroke the cat occupying my knees.” Warm thought made her smile to herself for a short moment. Sadly, these are only dreams.

She hated all those blinding lights, neons screaming from every corner with advertisements, electronic books, and newspapers. Everything. Good old days are gone - That was the greatest sadness consuming her thoughts. What’s more, she’s alone here in Detroit and not eager to make any new friends. The mission must be completed, and after that, she’ll be gone for good.

Sarif Industries headquarters - The monument of a new era, a place where all of your dreams come true. If you have money of course. Laura passed by the wing-shaped installation lit with bright yellow lights and followed to the front door.

“Great world, here I come!” She almost screamed out loud when the glass door opened before her.

Sarif Industries headquarters. Lobby.

Two months, before the first attack.

Forget, disappear, do not exist. She wanted it so much at that moment, the moment that changed her life forever…

Nothing extraordinary used to happen on the way from the door to the escalator. And Laura didn't expect that something will today. Same as yesterday, and days before, she was passing by some workers busy with gossiping about unimportant things, security guards keeping order, and people coming to sign contracts to supply prostheses from Sarif Industries. Today, however, everything was completely different.

"Do not use this code!" She screamed at her colleague through the speaker of her smartphone. "Do I speak a foreign language? Didn't I make myself clear enough?!" She pressed. "Great!" She muttered, ending the call. "Idiot…"

At the same time, Laura felt like she was bumping into something or someone. A pile of books fell on the floor and scattered around her feet. She lost the grip on the paper coffee mug so it soared up high, pouring out the wet brownish content. She momentarily saw that big, wet stain on a dark brown, cotton turtleneck and part of a black coat. Her body seemed to scream an order to run away as far as she could and hide deep underground. But she couldn't. She was just standing like a pillar of stone, unable to move or say anything. She must have looked stupid at that moment, but the victim didn't seem to notice.

"From zero to zero cool? The code has you? The dark side of the code?" Laura heard his voice for the first time in her life and it was the sweetest melody she’s ever experienced. He was kneeling in front of her, mumbling book titles like nothing really happened. "Working with Pritchard is quite a challenge, miss…" He paused and raised his head up giving Laura a long careful stare with his hypnotic blue-gray eyes.

"Werner" She replied after a moment of silence. "Laura Werner. I am very sorry, Mr. Jensen. I really am. I'll pay for the cleaning, please send me the bill."

Adam was so formal and cold, but yet there was something that pushed her towards him. Luckily she did some research, and thanks to this she knew something about him.

"Nothing really happened." He replied with a rough tone of the head of security. "Was your boss the one you were yelling at?" Jensen asked handing over her books.

"No, not at all. After all, he's my boss, I'd get fired for such impertinence. I like my job so..." Hearing every spoken word Laura realized that she’s talking without any sense.

“So, you work in Cyber Security and I don't know you, but you know me. How is that possible?” Adam has changed the subject smoothly, and his tone has become colder.

“I insist, Mr. Jensen. Your coat is dirty because of me.” She just tried to spin around that stain and buy some time, but Jensen wasn't fooled.

“We’re not talking about my clothes Miss Werner. I asked you a question, so please answer.” Listening to him was almost the same as talking with a cop during interrogation at the police station. The only difference is that Adam is handsome as hell and most of those flatfeet not.

“It's simple." She shrugged. "Sarif Industries has many employees in the CSec, but there is only one head of security – You, Mr. Jensen.” Laura said without hesitation, looking straight into his eyes.

“Point for you, Mrs. Werner.”

For the first time, she felt victorious, but it’s only a false feeling. Jensen agreed with her what’s more, he must be tired cause making such a trivial mistake doesn’t fit his professional look.

“Miss.” She couldn’t resist and pointed to that mistake, though she didn't manage to baffle him. Adam was so determined, almost desperate to know the truth, and nothing could possibly stop him from doing so.

“Miss...” Jensen repeated slowly like he had realized his failure. “So how long have you worked at Sarif Industries, and why I know nothing about it?!” His voice changed from ice cold to thunder strike. Laura felt overwhelmed and cornered with one swift stroke. What if he already knows the truth? Impossible...

“I...” She started slowly, trying to choose her words carefully. There’s no place for a mistake. This is now or never.

“The clock is ticking, Miss Werner." He urged.

She felt that her legs are bending under the weight of his words like a willow tree. Laura didn't know what to say exactly, because no one had ever asked her about such unimportant things. He interrogated the suspect with a precision of an old cop, or maybe he used to be one?

“Since the simplest question remains unanswered, the rest of the conversation will take place at my office and I’m afraid that personal search is unavoidable.” It was hard to say if he just tried to scare her off or simply he was serious. Before she regained control, an unexpected rescue appeared.

She was more or less 5'2 tall, green-eyed brunette, wearing a fancy grayish tunic, black leggings, and high heels. With no doubt, she had a big impact on Adam’s behavior cause suddenly he smoothly transformed into a nice guy. If Laura was not mistaken in her evaluation, this is doctor Reed.

“Finally, Megan” Adam sighed with disapproval. “You said it would take you five minutes, and that was a quarter of an hour ago.” He complained.

“Oh Adam, you know that my research is important and everything has to be done perfectly before DC.” Megan tried to explain herself and her sweet talking made him melting like snow in the spring. “I’m free to go now, you must be starving.”

“Mhm, I am. But we'll drop by into my apartment on the way to the restaurant. I have to get changed.” After saying this, Jensen looked at Laura once more. „We’ll end this conversation tomorrow at my office, Miss Werner.” She wanted so badly to just stick out her tongue at him or say something stupid, but playing with this grumpy Cerberus was simply unwise.

She gazed at Adam until his silhouette had disappeared, then she sighed with relief, leaning her back towards the tall neon cuboid with an advertisement of Neuropozine. She’s been watching Jensen carefully since the beginning of their conversation. Without a doubt, he was a grumpy professionalist with a poker-face, who knew his job very well. He was rough in his relations with strangers and seemed to be inaccessible, but every firewall can be bypassed. All you have to do is take the right approach, and he will eat from her hand. If this is a "Song of Ice and Fire" then Laura is the fire that will melt the ice. She promised herself to destroy the wheel and break the chains. Adam won’t stop Laura from doing her job.

Yet with every second, a strange, unknown feeling was growing stronger and it was hard to fight with. She couldn’t resist it much longer, but the message codded in her mind reminded her that superiors don’t pay for fondness. She’s a hacker, the best one, and getting pieces of information is what she’s good at. Laura stood a while longer, looking at Sarif’s face smiling at her from another tall cuboid advertising this company. Finally, she considered that pushing the line further is very risky, and may evolve into an unwanted storm, so she stepped onto the escalator which took her to the first floor, straight into her boss's jaws.

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

[crunchyshadow]

Shadow’s Showdown Chapter 55 - The Zero Hour.

Sarif Industries. David Sarif's office. The 0 hour.

The screen in Sarif's office, which had previously displayed a broadcast of a baseball game, now showed a map of the laboratories highlighted in red. An alarm vibrating in their ears sounded, and a robotic, female voice repeated in a loop: Environmental malfunction, laboratory sub-section six. All lab chiefs, please report in.  

Knowledge is a deadly friend  

If no one sets the rules

The fate of all mankind I see

Is in the hands of fools

Chapter 55 [dA]

Chapter 55 [Wattpad]

[pedroam-bang]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011)

[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.

[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*

[eridanidreams]

wip roundup London Calling: for Odysseus Gambit And A Sweet Lie, A Poison Truth: for from Stars

London Calling is set just after the end of Mankind Divided. David's flown Sloane out from Prague due to the anti-aug backlash, intending to spend quality time with his daughter (which is causing some friction because he keeps thinking he knows everything from his surveillance of her, and he really doesn't, but Sarif, y'know?). And since Adam's also in London, David gets the bright idea to introduce the two of them. After all, he's been trying to get them together for months now and Sloane keeps blowing him off and he just doesn't understand why! (She keeps telling him, "you don't need to introduce me to your security chief". Just... like... that. Not her fault he hears "don't introduce me to him...")

This is very much a WIP, and will likely see significant revisions as I continue to work out exactly what happened behind the scenes at Apex, but the part I know that's going to stay is Sloane yanking Sarif up by the short hairs regarding his actions in Human Revolution...

David leaned back in his chair and looked at them with an air of pride. “And seeing the both of you here, hale and whole, I’m glad I did.”

The very last thing he was expecting was Adam’s sardonic, “’Whole’ is an interesting way to put it, but who am I to argue?” Sloane’s brow furrowed, and she glanced sharply between him and Adam.

“What are you talking about, Adam?” David was genuinely confused. “Look at you, son!”

“Yeah.” Adam sounded unimpressed. “Look at me. More metal than meat, your name plastered all over me.” He snorted. “Pretty sure I never asked for this.”

Sloane held up a finger. “Just a minute,” she said, and David watched Adam’s shoulders stiffen. “Adam, are you saying that you didn’t consent to your initial augmentation?”

“I was unconscious,” Adam said, quietly. “There was a clause in my employment contract making Sarif my legal medical proxy in the absence of my designated proxy.”

“That,” she said, very precisely, “is not a ‘no’.”

“I—” David fell silent as she levelled stormy eyes on him.

“Adam?” she asked, in a tone of exquisite courtesy that still failed to hide the anger simmering beneath.

Adam sighed. “My left arm, chest cavity, and parts of my head and face needed to be replaced.”

“I see,” she said, still staring at David. “Let me guess, you knew that Adam was a genetic fluke, that he wouldn’t need Neuropozyne, and that because of that, you could stuff him full of cutting-edge augmentations. A showpiece and a private army all in one package.”

David winced. It sounded so crass when she put it in those terms. “That’s not—”

Sloane placed both hands on the table and slowly rose to her full height, and somehow, she managed to fill the room with her voice without raising the volume. “Medical ethics, Sarif. Have you ever heard of them? How about bodily autonomy?” He opened his mouth to protest, and “—and don’t you even try to tell me that you had the legal right, because we all know that what is legal and what is right are not always the same.”

“HE ALMOST DIED!” Sarif was on his own feet. “Do you have any idea what that was like? I thought—our entire research team was dead, and half the security force besides! I had one chance to salvage something! Salvage him! I had to make a choice, and it wasn’t just Adam’s survival on the line, but Sarif Industries!” Sarif’s breath came hard and fast. How could she not understand? “We—he—needed to be able to survive if they came back.”

She took a deep breath, and then Adam placed a hand gently on her arm. “Sweetheart,” he said, roughly, “will you do me a favor and give us a moment?” Her eyes snapped to his, and he gave her a little nod. She glanced at David, briefly, then placed a kiss on Adam’s forehead—making her partisanship clear—and stalked out of the room.

“Adam—” David’s voice cracked.

“Before you ask,” Adam said, “I didn’t put her up to that. But I’m also not sorry she said it. It needed to be said.”

David stared at him in shock. “Et tu, Adam?”

Adam snorted bitterly. “Don’t try to pass yourself off as the one betrayed, Sarif. Everything about my time at Sarif Industries was a lie, from the moment I was hired.”

David shook his head. “That’s a little melodramatic, don’t you think? Believe it or not, I hired you on your own merits. The rest of it,” he waved his hand dismissively, “was just a bonus.”

Adam slammed a hand down on the table hard enough to make the china jump. “No. Stop trying to weasel out of it. You did this when I called you on the hole in the firewall, and again with Radford, and by god, for once you are going to take some responsibility for your actions.”

“What do you want me to say, Adam? That I’m sorry?” David spread his hands wide. “If I hadn’t given you what I did, you—and a hell of a lot of other people—would be dead right now. Am I supposed to regret that?”

“Ah. The utilitarian argument. Greatest good for the greatest number; too bad for the poor bastard that gets sacrificed for the rest.” Adam’s snort this time was less bitter and more contemptuous. “For someone who hates the Illuminati so much, you’re quick to adopt their methods.”

[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...