Deus Ex: Mankind Divided storyline

This page outlines the storyline of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided by chapter. It only discusses story details from critical missions and ignores player choice, with the exception of detailing the events of both Confronting the Bomb-Maker and The Heist which cannot both happen simultaneously.

Pre-TF29
For about a year after the Aug Incident, Jensen was considered dead or missing because nobody could identify him while he was recovering in an Alaska facility, including himself. He eventually escaped and joined The Juggernaut Collective in hopes of finding the Illuminati conspirators, who caused much of the suffering in the world. As a result of the public's new-found hostility towards augmentations though, Sarif Industries went out of business. The Juggernaut Collective, believing Interpol's Task Force 29 to be a front for the Illuminati, get Jensen in by 2029 to get closer to finding the conspirators.

Welcome to the Divided World
Welcome to the Divided World The year is 2029 - two years after a madman's attempt to teach the world a lesson sent millions of mechanically-enhanced people into a killing frenzy.

Tensions between "Augs" and "Naturals" have exploded since then. Extremists in both camps use violence to make their voices heard. Black-market sales of weapons and augments have reached unprecedented heights, while the United Nations debates extreme measures to end the societal divide.

Against the backdrop of chaos, one man will struggle to expose its true source: Adam Jensen, Interpol's newest counter-terrorism agent... Sometime later, TF29's Prague Division is mobilized to capture a weapons arm dealer, Sheppard (an ex-Belltower whose real name is John Trent), in Dubai during a deal with the Jinn. Jensen has reservations about why their team is being sent rather than the closer Oman Division, but goes with it. His new boss, Jim Miller, tasks him with going in solo from the roof and disabling access to the atrium. He disables the only door from the penthouses to the meeting area, thus keeping the Jinn reinforcements from interfering. However, just as the TF29 team moves in to take Sheppard, gold mask mercenaries attack, killing Sheppard and shooting at both the Jinn and TF29 while they move to take the high grade augmentations and weapons. Miller then orders Jensen to quickly disable the helicopter so the mercenaries can not get away so Jensen pulls out the battery, preventing them from escaping.

Spies and Double Agents
Spies and Double Agents A last-minute tip from an undercover agent sent Jensen's strike team racing to Dubai. They hoped to arrest a dangerous arms dealer, yet midway through the operation, gold-masked, augmented mercenaries ambushed everyone. One week later, Jensen returned to his home base in Prague, arriving alone by train to meet someone in secret. Alex Vega, a member of an International network of activists, hackers, and spies who call themselves the Juggernaut Collective, told him that his team was being manipulated.

She was handing Jensen a listening device to plant in TF29's holographic conferencing system when terrorist bombs exploded... Jensen then heads back alone to Růžička Station in Prague to secretly meet up with his Juggernaut Collective contact, Alex Vega. As they talk about what happened in Dubai, they come to the conclusion his team was meant to see the attack, but can not figure out who the mercenaries were or why his team in particular was meant to see it. Alex then gives him a whisper-chip, a device that Janus created to listen in on conversations in the neural subnet, aka NSN. Just as they near the exit of the station, bombs go off, destroying the station. Jensen tries to help a young boy save his mother, who had been crushed by cement rubble, but she dies as he tries to get her out.

Backstreet Bargains
Backstreet Bargains Jensen's augmentations had been damaged during the bombing and he needed a specialist to fix them. But what should have been a quick detour turned into a lot more when he found Dvali gangsters in Koller's shop. Koller did get Jensen's augments back on line, though - and in the process, discovered some highly eperimental augments hidden inside the agent's systems. using them could be dangerous, unless Jensen retrieved a neuroplasticity calibrator from elsewhere in the city... The next day, Jensen wakes up to find his augmentations malfunctioning and heads to Vaclav Koller's workshop to get them fixed. Koller reveals that someone gave Jensen mysterious augs but does not know anything else about who could have done it or where they came from, though by his guess, they were added in the last 1-2 years, suggesting it was during a time Jensen was unconscious in the Alaska facility.

Conflicts of Interest
Conflicts of Interest After checking in at work, Jensen planted Vega's listening device inside the NSN's motherboard, despite the fact that his boss, Jim Miller, was using the holographic system. Miller then order Jensen to his office and told him to look into the train station attack. Doing so wouldn't be easy. State Police were claiming jurisdiction - playing politics and getting in the way. They believed an organization named the Augmented Rights Coalition had orchestrated the attack, but Miller needed Jensen to prove it.

To Do so, he'd have to return to the scene of the crime... With his augments now stable, Jensen then heads to the shop Praha Dovoz, which is a front to hide TF29's office. He gets into the server rooms and installs the whisper-chip while Miller was using the NSN, resulting in Alex getting a snippet of his conversation. Miller, unaware of what Jensen just did, gets out and orders Jensen to meet him in his office. He informs Jensen that he wants him on the Růžička case and to find their forensics technician, Daniel "Smiley" Fletcher, who was sent earlier to the station and has not returned. However, the Czech State Police do not enjoy TF29 in their backyard and and are claiming the bombing was homegrown terrorism, meaning they have jurisdiction over the investigation and not TF29. Due to this, Miller informs Jensen to head to one of the stations and he will call to have a train take him to Růžička Station. As Jensen leaves the office, Alex informs him she did get some information from the call but Janus used the wrong algorithm so it will take some time to figure out what was said. With that, Jensen heads out to Růžička Station.

Circumventing Evidence
Circumventing Evidence Jensen returned to Ruzicka Station as ordered, only to discover that State Police had forcibly ejected TF29's forensic specialist from the scene. Apparently, Smiley had spotted evidence they didn't want the Task Force to see. Jensen acquired the device anyway and was bringing it to TF29 for analysis when Miller called with a new lead. One that would put Jensen inside Golem City, Prague's notorious Aug ghetto.

Before he could get anywhere, however, TF29's new psychologist had to clear him for active duty... When he arrives, Fletcher is startled by Jensen’s presence and explains he was in the middle of gathering evidence and close to what he thinks would have been the breakthrough the case needs when the State Police came in and chased him off. He will then ask Jensen to recover the evidence, which is on a digital storage device (DSD). Jensen successfully recovers it and brings it back to the lab for Fletcher to analyze when Miller contacts him and says he has a new lead on the bombing and will be sending Jensen to Golem City.

However, Jensen needs to get checked out first by TF29's new psychiatrist, Dr. Delara Auzenne, who must clear all agents for active duty. She discusses with Jensen his background and if he has any conflicting emotions over hunting down augmented people, then clears him for the field.

Whispers from the Shadows
<div style="font-size:160%; padding:5px; font-family:Maetl; text-shadow: 2px 0px 10px #a58827; font-style:normal; padding: 10px 0px"><font color="#d8ba5a">Whispers from the Shadows En route to TF29's offices, Jensen received an urgent call from Vega. The bug he'd placed in the NSN's motherboard had uncovered signs of a conspiracy! Vega played the recording to Jensen when they met inside an abandoned L.I.M.B. clinic. It sounded as if Miller had received orders to frame ARC for multiple attacks, including a break-in at the pharmaceutical giant, VersaLife. Jensen told Vega to investigate the break-in while he met his boss at TF29's private helipad.

Apparently, miller wanted Jensen to fly to Golem City to arrest ARC's terrorist leader... As he leaves the office, Alex contacts Jensen about the information she got from the NSN conversation, saying he really needs to hear it and to meet her at the abandoned LIMB clinic. Once there, she plays the partial conversation where Miller is told by his boss, Joseph Manderley, to pin Dubai, the station bombing, and an unheard of VersaLife attack on the Augmented Rights Coalition (ARC), who are based out of Golem City. With that in mind, Jensen goes to meet Miller and his VTOL pilot, Elias Chikane. Miller informs Jensen to look for an informant in Golem City named Tibor Sokol, who can help him get into ARC territory as Jensen needs to find and bring Talos Rucker, the leader of ARC, in for questioning. Jensen then boards the VTOL and Chikane flies him to Golem City.

Murky Waters
<div style="border: 1px solid black; background: black; text-align:justify; font-style:italic; padding:12px; width:100%;"><div style="font-size:160%; padding:5px; font-family:Maetl; text-shadow: 2px 0px 10px #a58827; font-style:normal; padding: 10px 0px"><font color="#d8ba5a">Murky Waters Jensen had orders to bring Talos Rucker in alive. But the man who'd promised to lead him through ARC headquarters had been arrested in a police raid, forcing Jensen to infiltrate the place on his own. Halfway there, he encountered Viktor Marchenko, another member of ARC, who claimed Rucker and his group were peaceful - while also making it clear that Jensen would get hurt if he didn't turn around.

Jensen soldiered on regardless, eventually confronting Rucker in person. But just as the doctor-turned-activist was revealing who the real terrorists were, someone - or something - killed him... Chikane drops Jensen off near the informant's living quarters and Jensen gets a firsthand glimpse of the horrible conditions in the ghetto. He eventually enters Tibor's housing to find a frustrated woman, Adela Sokol, who explains that because Tibor is an ARC member, the police came and took him and his brother, Dusan. She will point Jensen towards the police outpost in a place called The Narrows, where Tibor is being held. However, when Jensen gets there, Tibor backs out of the deal as he is worried about his family, but does give a couple workarounds. With this in mind, Jensen makes his way deeper into Golem City and gains access to The Throat, which leads into ARC territory.

Here he meets Viktor Marchenko, a high ranking ARC member who seems to have a lot of respect for Rucker. He warns Jensen that The Throat is no place for "a shiny Aug" and to turn back before Marchenko leaves with fellow ARC members. Not deterred, Jensen radios Chikane and Miller to have the latter run a search for any information on Marchenko while he continues to makes his way through The Throat and into ARC territory.

ARC territory though is crawling with guards, and is not helped when Tibor breaks and warns fellow ARC members that Interpol is somewhere, most likely looking for Rucker. This does not stop Jensen as he makes his way through the area and eventually gets to Rucker's office to confront him on the Růžička Station bombing. During his conversation with Jensen, Rucker explains that a split between philosophies is going on within ARC and he suspects it is connected to whoever did the bombing and that the person could be within ARC, actively trying to undermine their peaceful approach. He further explains he has evidence to prove his suspicions, but before he can continue Rucker dies suddenly from unnatural causes. With Rucker now dead, Jensen has no choice but to head to the extraction point and to explain to Miller later on what happened. Shots are fired after Jensen as he boards the VTOL before suddenly stopping, and Jensen turns to sees ARC members and Marchenko have arrived with the latter smirking as he watches Jensen fly away.

Chasing Down the Clues
<div style="border: 1px solid black; background: black; text-align:justify; font-style:italic; padding:12px; width:100%;"><div style="font-size:160%; padding:5px; font-family:Maetl; text-shadow: 2px 0px 10px #a58827; font-style:normal; padding: 10px 0px"><font color="#d8ba5a">Chasing Down the Clues Back in Prague, an irate Miller confronted Jensen before taking off for Golem City to assess the damage done. His departure offered Jensen a chance to investigate him - which the double agent did by breaking into Miller's apartment and stealing an NSN card. Using it could reveal more clues... Jensen also checked in with Smiley, who told him that the mechanism used to detonate the terrorists' bombs had come from an analog wrist watch. This pointed to a local watchmaker, Nomad Stanek. So all Jensen had to do next was find him... After getting back to Prague, Jensen informs his boss on what happened to Rucker, and Miller, frustrated at the turn of events and with not much to go on other than Jensen's gut feelings, tells him to go see Fletcher to see what he got off the DSD before flying out with Chikane to deal with the Czech State Police. Jensen makes his way to TF29's office to see the forensic specialist, who informs him his hunch was correct. The evidence recovered shows that it was the timing mechanism of one of the bombs and from a locally made Stanek wristwatch. As the shop is closed for the day, Fletcher finds Nomad Stanek's address and Jensen leaves to find him. However, just as he steps out of Praha Dovoz, an explosion a few blocks away goes off and Jensen sees that the Stanek shop was targeted. He makes his way to Nomad's apartment to find further evidence someone is out to get the clock maker: his apartment has been broken into, but nobody is home. Searching the apartment, Jensen finds a secret room with a terminal. After reading the emails to see that Nomad is waiting for his daughter at the Irish Stool, a video message plays on the monitors showing Radich Nikoladze, the leader of the Dvali, saying goodbye to his "friend" and that it was just business before the room is sealed and toxic gas pours in. Jensen is able to escape the trap and tracks down Nomad at the bar, where two fellow TF29 agents are holding him. When Jensen reveals that he found bomb making equipment in the apartment, Nomad blurts that it is not his and was about to say who when he quickly changes his mind and says that he made the bombs. Knowing better, Jensen quickly deduces that the bomb maker is actually his daughter, Allison Stanek. Nomad reveals she was in the military and did EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) and was augmented before she started to suffer hallucinations and was dishonorably discharged. Becoming depressed, she made friends with people Nomad says are using her and keeping her away from him. With that in mind, Jensen heads out while the other agents take Nomad in for further questioning. Alex, still believing Miller could be actively helping the Illuminati, tells Jensen they need to find out, one way or another. As his boss had just flown out, Jensen responds that now is probably the best chance they have so he makes his way to Miller's apartment. He finds nothing on Miller's terminal, but does find a secret room with another terminal. However, there is nothing incriminating on the second terminal and it looks like Miller himself is looking for answers on the recent events. Jensen notices that Miller left his NSN key card here and while he debates over using it to access the full conversation, Alex wants to meet him as she found some interesting information.

They meet near TF29 and she reveals a file Janus found: a similar incident to Rucker’s poisoning happened at VersaLife's Roccasecca Beach facility where a woman, Anneke Norstadt, was poisoned. However, the reports were buried and merely labeled as an “industrial accident” making Janus and Alex believe it could be a bioweapon. Jensen notes to Alex that he finds it odd that Janus can find this information so easily when others cannot, but relents. With this new information, he points out Miller’s card would allow them to know for certain if it really is a bioweapon being used by VersaLife and TF29 as NSN conversations are stored on the system’s cloud memory, allowing them to see the full conversation when accessed. However, this is risky as it means Jensen will have to access the machine directly so someone could catch him using it.

Wrapping Up the Case
<div style="border: 1px solid black; background: black; text-align:justify; font-style:italic; padding:12px; width:100%;"><div style="font-size:160%; padding:5px; font-family:Maetl; text-shadow: 2px 0px 10px #a58827; font-style:normal; padding: 10px 0px"><font color="#d8ba5a">Wrapping Up the Case Using Miller's NSN card enabled Jensen to see more of the man's earlier conversation with his boss. But what Jensen saw was shocking: A third conspirator ordering the murder of Talos Rucker using something called "the Orchid." This convinced Vega to get in touch with Janus, leader of the Collective, while Jensen continued his TF29 investigation.

He found Nomad Stanek in Prague's Red Light District and got him to implicate his daughter. Then, while TF29 took Nomad into custody, Jensen set off to meet the elusive Janus... Deciding the answers outweigh the risk, Jensen heads into TF29 to use the NSN. He plugs in and recovers the data to see the first part of the conversation he had already heard with Alex. After Miller logged off, Manderley calls up Bob Page to discuss the fake break-in that is supposed to happen any day on VersaLife's San Francisco facility and needing a report to give to Miller to make him believe it really happened, proving to Jensen that Miller has no clue about his boss being a member of the Illuminati. They go on to reveal there is an inside man within ARC that poisoned Rucker with something called the Orchid, with Page stating it will push Nathaniel Brown to make his move, before ending the call. Having the answers they need and then some, Jensen exits the machine and asks Alex to set up a meeting between him and Janus.

Jensen then makes his way to an abandoned tourist office to meet Janus. However, to keep his identity a secret, Janus uses an ever changing human face while talking to Jensen via monitors. While Jensen’s evidence does implicate Manderley and Page with conspiracy to commit murder, Janus points out the evidence was illegally obtained and will not hold up in court. However, on the Orchid, there could be a way to find answers. Janus suggests for Jensen to break into VersaLife’s vault at Palisade Property Bank, as Page owns VersaLife and will most likely have any sensitive information on the Orchid within the secure vault. Janus also notes Brown stands to earn trillions if the Human Restoration Act passes but before he can continue on the feed is cut and Alex contacts Jensen, telling him he needs to get out of there as sentry drones are detected in the area. Jensen is able to successfully evade the drones when he is contacted by Nomad, who frantically begs for Jensen's help. Nomad had slipped away from the TF29 agents and followed some of Allison's friends to a place in southern Prague only to learn they plan to kill her that night. As Jensen heads to the nearest station to get to Nomad, Alex contacts Jensen, saying Janus learned VersaLife is closing their account at Palisade Property Bank and clearing out their vault that night, meaning if he wants to recover any possible information on the Orchid, he has to do it now, leaving Allison to her fate.