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.

It also summarizes some of the events between Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided that occur in tie-in material. This can be found in the background section.

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 have 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 into the Prague Division to get closer to finding the conspirators.

Welcome to the Divided World
In 2029, six months after joining TF29, the Prague team 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.

One week later, Jensen 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.

Spies and Double Agents
The next day, Jensen wakes up to find his augmentations malfunctioning and heads to Václav 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.

Backstreet Bargains
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 but 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.

Conflicts of Interest
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 needed when the State Police came in and chased him off. He then asks 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.

Circumventing Evidence
Before Jensen can be sent out on another mission though, he 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.

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.

Whispers from the Shadows
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, Adéla Sokol, who explains that because Tibor is an ARC member, the police came and took him and his brother, Dušan. 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 power struggle 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.

Murky Waters
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 Staněk wristwatch. As the shop is closed for the day, Fletcher finds Nomad Staněk'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 Staněk 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 Staněk. Nomad reveals she used to be 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.

Chasing Down the Clues
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 it 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.

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 Rucker's death 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.

Wrapping Up the Case
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 the signal 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.

Confronting the Bomb-Maker
Deciding Allison's life and finding out what she knows about the bombing is more important, Jensen heads out to meet Nomad near a rundown apartment building. Nomad explains he learned Allison is on the top floor of the building, but nobody is allowed up there, and that the cultists are going to kill her in something called the "Ascension."

Jensen makes his way up to the top floor and enters the room where Allison is only for her to initially confront him before quickly changing her mind and believing he is there as a sign. As she continues to talk, she reveals that she is actually the leader of the cultists and that Marchenko asked her to build some bombs for him which she willingly obliged, seeing violence as the answer against the "flesh flawed." After Rucker was killed, she learned Marchenko moved his operations to G.A.R.M., a facility in the Swiss Alps. When she realizes Jensen is actually fighting against Marchenko and just needed to know where to look to stop him, she becomes bitter and angrily asks why would Jensen side with "their" enemies. Eventually she reveals that she made enough bombs for Marchenko to destroy an entire city before showing Jensen what the Ascension is: a computerized tower with others connected to it in hopes of becoming one mind, the singularity.

The Heist
Deciding that any information on the Orchid is worth the loss of the bomb-maker, Jensen makes his way to Palisade Property Bank and retrieves a package Janus had waiting for him, containing a data rod and a blank keycard. As only those with the right biometrics can call corporate vaults, Jensen has to break into the CEO's office to use their keycard machine. Once the right biometrics are copied over to the keycard, Jensen was then able to access VersaLife's vault.

When Adam opens the vault, Janus uses the data rod to access the files, copying over anything flagged as “the Orchid.” As he goes about this, Jensen sees an audio file pop up on the screen and opens it. A conversation plays out with Megan Reed talking to Page about a facility she was unaware of, G.A.R.M. She goes on to mention a scientist there wanted to know more on the Orchid, which Megan is working on, and she stresses to Page how dangerous it is and to keep the neutralizing enzyme on site until she can stabilize it. There appears to be sadness in her voice, indicating she may know that Anneke Norstadt died from it. Page reassures her, stating her research is so important, he is keeping a copy of all her data, including a cure, at the VersaLife vault. Janus, having already started looking into G.A.R.M. when Megan mentioned it, found out it used to be a Belltower facility in the Swiss Alps but was not listed on their balance sheet when they declared bankruptcy. Janus finishes gathering the data and Jensen decides he needs to get to G.A.R.M. to find answers.

Aiding and Abetting
This one has 2 different summaries and images depending on which mission you did, but the only change in the story is how Miller reacts to Jensen's lead.

Confronting the Bomb-Maker version:The Heist version: Jensen heads to the helipad, where Miller is waiting for his report. With new information on hand about the terrorists' connection to G.A.R.M., Jensen is able to convince Miller that the answers they are looking for regarding Rucker's death and the attack on Růžička Station and in Dubai is at this facility, so Miller clears him to fly out there to see what he can dig up. Chikane drops Jensen off near one of the entrances but as soon as Jensen goes to open the door he is ambushed by none other than Marchenko and the shadow operatives, with the former injecting Jensen with a dose of the Orchid. As Jensen fades in and out of consciousness, he overhears Marchenko talking to the shadow operatives that they were expecting Jensen and that Marchenko is heading out to meet with the Dvali to make sure they smuggle something for him, stating that Brown confirmed date and time with Picus. He then leaves and the shadow operatives dump Jensen’s body in another area to let the Orchid finish him off.

However, the Orchid does not kill him and Jensen wakes up several hours later and radios for help. Realizing that the shadow operatives think he is dead, Jensen takes this time to scout throughout the facility before finding his way to the helipad where he is able to get a hold of Chikane, who picks him up and heads back to Prague.

Flowers, But No Funeral
Back in Prague, Jensen finds the whole city is under Martial Law due to rioting in Golem City. Despite this, Jensen is able to meet with Alex and gives her the Orchid sample so the Juggernaut Collective can look into it. He also informs her what he overheard at G.A.R.M.: that Brown has something to do with this and Marchenko knows the date and time. This confirms that ARC is being set up to take the fall for the upcoming attack, which would ensure the Human Restoration Act would pass. Alex notes it is odd as Brown would not attack himself if that is the case.

With nothing else to go on, Jensen makes his way to Miller’s office to fill him in on G.A.R.M. Seeing as only a select few knew about the mission, and knowing someone tipped off Marchenko, Jensen all but accuses Miller about it only for Miller to deny such allegations, stating that he sent Jensen there because he had viable information on it and he is also looking for much needed answers. Miller also reveals that it was Manderley who signed off on assigning Jensen to TF29’s Prague Division. Putting allegations aside, Jensen asks him if they found anything at the G.A.R.M. facility, but within the hour it took for some of TF29’s agents to get there after Jensen left, the shadow operatives had all but cleared out, taking anything useful with them. However, not all is lost as Jensen reveals he learned Marchenko has some kind of connection to the Dvali, so Miller orders him to get to the Red Light District to find out more.

Jensen is able to successfully enter the Dvali Theater, where Nikoladze keeps his office, and finds out that Marchenko plans to attack Brown’s Safe Harbour Convention in London. He immediately radios Miller and Alex with this information, to which Alex says they need to meet as she found new information on Brown. Jensen tells her to meet him at his apartment while Miller is setting up a mobilization plan with Duncan MacReady.

When he meets Alex, she reveals that Brown will actually lose trillions if the Human Restoration Act passes, as he would not be able to sustain the influx of augmented people to Rabi’ah. Thus, Brown has actually been campaigning against the Act and, unlike Rucker, has the power and money to go against it, making him a formidable opposition to the Illuminati conspirators’ plans. If Marchenko succeeds and kills Brown, then it will guarantee the Act passes, sealing the fate for all augmented people.

Alex also states the Orchid is not a bioweapon, at least not intentionally. Rather, it is a genome-editing drug that affects the gene that causes augmentation rejection syndrome, which is why it did not kill Jensen. In its finished state, it is meant to allow one’s body to accept augmentations, but until Megan completes it, it causes the opposite effect, killing the person instead.

Jensen then calls Miller to tell him he has more information and to check on the status of the plans. As time is limited, Miller tells him to get to the helipad and he can brief him on the way to London.

Closer to the Precipice
Two days later in London, TF29’s Prague Division is heading to London’s Apex Centre. Miller has Jensen go with him to the rooftop where they meet Brown to discuss the threat at hand and hope he will call off the convention. Brown explains that the London Division had already done a check and found nothing, and that he brought in extra security from Tarvos Security Services and even had the food and beverages replaced to show he was taking the threat seriously. However, he refuses to cancel the event as he is hoping to persuade the UN delegates that are there to oppose the Act. Resigned to this, Miller says he will check the conference room himself and assigns Jensen to check in with Tarvos to help out, while the rest of the team re-examines the place.

As Jensen heads down to meet Liam Slater, the one in charge of the convention's security, he gives Alex a heads up that some of the UN delegates are there, only for Janus to butt into the conversation. Janus stresses that if anything should happen, the UN delegates are the number one priority as they cannot afford for the Human Restoration Act to pass and Alex agrees. When Jensen reaches the security floor, he makes his way to the security officer on duty, telling him he is there to see Slater. However, something feels off and the guard states Slater is busy with an urgent matter, even though Jensen is the reason for the matter at hand. Making his way through the area, Jensen confirms his suspicions when he finds gold masks and dead bodies of the real Tarvos guards, causing him to immediately radio Miller to let him know security has been compromised. Miller then orders Jensen to get to the override switch as MacReady's team is locked out, and when Jensen accesses it, he sees on the monitors that the terrorists are getting in through a back door in the catering area. However, there is a small problem: many of the fake guards are among the party guests and to enter the catering area, one needs the appropriate keycard.

Jensen is able to find a catering keycard and enter the area, only to find Miller badly injured. Miller says to forget about him and explains that Jensen needs to get to Brown and the delegates as he found out the shadow operatives tainted the champagne with the Orchid and will be serving it to them soon. Miller had tried to stop them but they overpowered him before forcing him to drink the Orchid. Just as Jensen lets MacReady know what is going on, his Infolink is intercepted by Marchenko, who says Jensen should be dead. As he is not, Marchenko has had to adapt to the situation at hand by placing bombs in the surrounding towers that will kill hundreds of people if Jensen does not go to meet him in the exhibition hall. MacReady, having overheard the conversation, sets out to find the bombs, but is not sure he will be able to take care of them in time. Jensen makes his decision on which group to save, hoping his choice does not send the world into further chaos.

Ending
One week later, Jensen is back at his apartment with Alex as they watch the news unfold about what happened in London. As it finishes up, they discuss it between themselves and what Janus has learned about the Act's status. Jensen reveals it is not over yet though, as he is still set on finding the conspirators behind it all. However, he also wants to find out who Janus really is, and tells Alex that Janus can either set up a meeting face to face, or Jensen will find him himself.