Flesh and Chrome

Flesh and Chrome is a detective story featuring private investigator Donna Parker who is hired by Linwood Alers to dig into the murder of his augmented cousin Frieda. Parts of this story appear as eBooks in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided:
 * The intro chapter can be found inside a locker in the secret gassed room in Václav Koller's dungeon.
 * Chapter 9 can be found in the nursery near the police station in the Golem City.

Parker and Linwood
''It was a bad week in a bad month. It had been a bad year. Heat wave. Unemployment. Crime spree. The dailies were saying times were tough all over. This was news?''

''Business was...good. The boys didn't have the manpower to handle every little thing. Or maybe they weren't interested. It didn't take more than a few greased palms to have them send clients my way.''

I had just wandered into my office when he walked in.

''Tall. Dark. You know the type. Strong hands. Arms like tree-trunks. Piercing blue eyes. I knew this one was going to be trouble.''

"Ms. Parker?"

"Donna."

"Linwood Alers. I need your help. My cousin...my cousin was killed. The police say it's suicide, but I know otherwise. Still, they don't want to touch it."

I dusted off my jacket, lit up my last cigarette.

"Why?"

"She was augmented."

''I'd been right about the trouble. I reached for the well-worn drawer handle on my left.''

"I need a drink."

Chapter 9: Thumper
''The Closed Circuit Club was busy. Cogs and cog-lovers; I didn't get on with either. But it was the only lead I had. A rooster was all lit up and crowing on stage. He sounded good. Looked even better. Maybe even good enough to change my mind about the place.''

''I signalled the bartender. He's already been pouring a couple of fingers of his cheapest rotgut.''

He slid the glass over, "Help ya?"

"You the manager?"

''His face twisted into what I could only guess was a grin. His left eye was augmented. I don't know what he was seeing, but he was eyeballing me like I was blue.''

"Closest we've got."

"Frieda Alers. Know her?"

"Sure. Hopped tables for me. Belt out a tune once in a while. What...?"

He got real quiet, real quick and his eyes fixed on something past my shoulder.

"Whatssis? Little natch askin' questions?"

''I turned, slow and steady, keeping my right arm behind me, on the bar, close to the small of my back. There were five of them, and a few more were getting up from their tables. The mouth was a big one. Rough. And Augged. They all were.''

''"I got your answers right here." He raised an arm and the metal stump where his hand should've been started pistoning like a slow-motion jackhammer.''

''I smiled and finally got a grip of the pineapple I'd been digging for. P14 E-mag. EM Pulser. I always kept one in a real-hip hoister.''

These boys would be waking up with a hell of a headache in the morning.