Deus Ex Universe: Children's Crusade Issue 5

Deus Ex Universe: Children's Crusade is a 5-part comic produced by Titan Comics in 2016. It follows the story of Adam Jensen as he adapts to his new role as a member of Task Force 29, an Interpol-sponsored anti-terrorist unit. The series is set just before Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

The fifth (and final) issue was released on June 29, 2016.

Synopsis
"In an attempt to strike a blow against the world's anti-Aug agenda, Titus King has been taken hostage by a group of pro-Aug radicals led by his augmented son Sebastian. Whether they like it or not, it's up to TF-29 to save the political agitator from a very public execution. But can Adam Jensen diffuse the situation without the spilling of more innocent blood?"

Plot Summary
Alex Vega drops Jensen off near Glasshütte as Miller calls for him. Jensen approaches the team and learns that the terrorists will kill Titus King unless their demands are met, which is a long list of wanting equal rights, an end to any aug-related legislation, and free generic Neuropozyne. Miller then informs the team they will go in once King's position is pegged and Fallada handed it off to them, having conveniently forgotten about jurisdiction when things went south. When Beaufort asks how things are going to go, MacReady points out that ops like this always have a body count, leading Jensen to remark that these are still children. Once more, MacReady brings up that Niemi died because a child had a bomb inside him. Vasquez then questions Jensen if perhaps Emilia was in on it the whole time, but Jensen strongly disagrees, pointing out that she is a 12 year old girl trying to deal with being kidnapped twice and seeing her mother killed right in front of her. When Jensen tries to say they need to get the children out of Glasshütte, Miller replies that getting King is their priority before Jensen gets a call from Alex. Flying over the ghetto, Alex informs Jensen that the Juggernaut Collective have figured out what Sebastian plans to do: he is going to reveal he is Titus King's son before blowing both of them up in a live broadcast.

As Jensen tries to get Miller's attention, Miller tells him to wait as Sebastian's first part of the plan starts: taking over the Europanet feed to broadcast his message with Titus tied up to a chair in the center of the stage. Alex lets Jensen know that if he can interface with any of Sebastian's augmentations, a code the Collective is working on will shut down the detonator. Meanwhile, Sebastian starts to talk on the broadcast, revealing he is Titus' son and the reason he was augmented in the first place was to save his life and that his hypocrite of a father hates him because he is not perfect. This leads to Titus yelling no and that he hates Sebastian because he killed his mother. As TF29 watches, Jensen says he has a plan to get King out while keeping the body count low if Miller will send him in, stating that Sebastian wants a war and once he is done, will blow up the stage. MacReady insists that is why they just need to head in, but Beaufort counters that as soon as Sebastian see any of them, he will blow it all up anyways. Miller silences them all and gives out orders: Vasquez will go join Chikane in the VTOL in case they need aerial support and everyone else, except Jensen, will go wait in an APCundefined. Jensen is given three minutes to try and do a solo extraction; after that, they are all coming in. Miller reminds Jensen that Lyon is concerned about camera optics inside and if given a chance, to take out Sebastian but to not become a part of his show. As Jensen heads out, MacReady asks him if he is OK taking down advocates for aug rights, to which Jensen responds that he will do his job, and if MacReady does his, they will save some lives. They then crash the APC through Glasshütte's border to make some noise to allow Jensen to sneak in.

As Jensen makes his way to the Glassworks, the rest of TF29 is seen fighting and getting into position while Jensen confirms with Alex that the Collective will have the code ready soon. Alex also informs him that they took down Sebastian's feed so Jensen can confront him without any cameras rolling. Near the front of the crowd in the Glassworks, Jensen gets Sebastian's attention, who asks if Jensen is enjoying the show as his father is not. Titus points out "his" Sebastian would never have done this and he is not him anymore, to which Sebastian corrects him, stating he still is his "little boy." Jensen informs Sebastian that there is no audience to play for, as he shut down his feed, and Sebastian mocks him, pointing out he figured someone would hack his feed so he made sure to setup a backup, but Alex informs Jensen they took care of those too. As the TF29 team try to figure out what is going on with the comms and why they cannot hear Jensen, Alex lets him know the code is now ready just as another terrorist informs Sebastian that they jammed the backup feed as well. Sebastian shrugs it off, saying he already made his statement and now he and his father have some personal time before ordering Emilia to shoot Jensen if he makes any sudden moves. Miller, meanwhile, asks Chang who is hacking the feed, but the latter does not know, only that they are good and are blocking all signals coming out of the building.

Inside, Sebastian hugs on Titus and sardonically talks about how they can now be a family again, to which Titus says he only wanted what was best for him. Unknown to everyone else, someone orders Vasquez that if he has a shot, to take it. A bullet goes through Sebastian's head and chaos breaks out, with TF29 storming in and the terrorists shooting back. Jensen quickly knocks King's chair down to prevent him from getting caught in the crossfire, then grabs Emilia and drops her to the ground so she is not killed as TF29 kills all the terrorists that are shooting or fleeing. Beaufort runs over and cuts King loose while MacReady chases after unarmed children and gets ready to shoot them when Jensen yells at him to stop. With the fighting at an end, Beaufort asks MacReady to help her get King to the APC, calling the reporter an asshole in the process, while Jensen confronts Miller, remarking that this was not the plan. Miller tells him the plan was to extract King, and Jensen retorts it was to disable the bomb and keep Sebastian alive. However, Miller decided that Sebastian was too high risk and most likely had a command phrase to set off any bombs in the children so he had to be taken out, keeping Jensen in the dark, another necessity to Miller. Miller then says the mission was a success, leaving Jensen to observe that they still do not know where the weapons or bomb components came from.

Outside the building, Miller asks Vasquez who gave him the order, and the latter replies in a confused tone "it wasn't you?" Miller says to forget it, and walks off to find King and, as he begins to say he is sorry for his loss, King merely snaps that he wants to be taken to his studio. Elsewhere, as Jensen watches the police march several of the children out, no doubt taking them into custody, Alex lets Jensen know she is glad he is OK and the Collective will be in touch. Emilia then approaches and starts to yell at Jensen, angry that he saved Titus, the man that wants to kill all augs. Jensen tries to explain the difference is that Titus just hates her while Sebastian wanted her dead to make a point. Emilia, still angry, insists Jensen is on the wrong side and asks who is going to say no to them now before being put into a vehicle. As he looks over the scene, Jensen quietly reflects that that is a good question he simply does not have the answer to, but the important thing is she is still alive to ask it.

In King's studio, Titus gives a broadcast that plays up on what happened, spinning the story to make it look like he still cares about his son, and that he will have to live with the fact that he made Sebastian an aug to save him, but uses it as an excuse to further cement why nobody else should get augmented before going back to saying this is a war and sons will die in it.

Elsewhere, Pavel Mikulski is standing in a room of large screens that show only silhouettes of several heads. Mikulski remarks that things are going smoothly and the others chime in, saying they supplied Sebastian just enough weapons to light the fuse, now they just need to control when the situation explodes but it is not over yet, and they need to spend the political capital they have earned from the disaster. Mikulski points out there are several allies within the European Parliament and asks if he should announce the initiative soon. One of the voices says they will need to confer first and they will get back to him. As Mikulski muses over what they should call the initiative, they tell him they already have a name for it: the Human Restoration Act.