The Ghost in the Machine is the second of six issues in the Deus Ex: Human Revolution comic series. It was released March 16th, 2011.
| "The legendary franchise comes to comics in advance of the highly-anticipated new game! Haunted by the ghosts of his past, Adam Jensen purses an augmented terrorist group and learns that, even in a world of superhuman enhancements, the female is still the deadliest of the species…" | ||||
| — Synopsis, DC Comics | ||||
Plot summary[]
The issue opens with Jensen having a nightmare of the Sarif Incident, when he was badly beaten and shot in the head by Jaron Namir. The dream jumps forward to his emergency augmentation following the incident, then he wakes and begins an internal monologue, apologizing to Dr. Marcovic for lying to her in issue 1, when he said that his dreams were sweet. Jensen feels that the only way to get the incident out of his head is to exact revenge on Namir. Pritchard interupts Jensen's brooding with the news of a bombing at a Humanity Front rally.
Eliza Cassan is reporting on the incident as Jensen surveys the blast site. Crews in hazmat gear are documenting the crime scene. Cassan's report on the incident is graphic an sensational, describing the "wall of shrapnel" that "surged through the helpless crowd." She goes on to say that paramedics "described it as the worst carnage they had ever witnessed." At the scene of the crime, federal agent Jake Dredger recognizes Jensen and calls out to him. The pair trade not-so-friendly remarks regarding one another's manhood and career as a greeting. Dredger mentions that Jensen is losing a lot of people, referring to the previous two attacks targeting Sarif Industries, and possibly also the theft of the Typhoon Explosive System. After Jensen reacts defensively, Dredger implies that David Sarif may be trying to use his military-grade hardware to try and "take out" groups that are hostile to him. Jensen tells Dredger that he's chasing the wrong people and only trying to advance his own career. As Jensen walks away, Dredger warns Jensen to stay out of the way of the investigation, saying that his organization has "big enough guns to blow [his] augmented ass away."
Back at Sarif HQ, Pritchard, Jensen and Sarif are reviewing footage of the attack. Jensen describes the augmentations the bomber was using. He used a Glass Shield to camouflage himself and infiltrate the rally. The explosive augmentation that he used was a rudimentary design of the Typhoon, put together from incomplete schematics. Sarif believes that they are dealing with corporate espionage, citing the fact that it would take resources that only a major biotech corporation would have to put a working model together from partial schematics. Jensen finds it somewhat unlikely, saying that such an attack is very radical for a form of corporate espionage. Sarif wonders aloud at the use of the words "Deus Ex," but Jensen freezes as the bomber draws his bullseye on the camera lens.
Jensen flashes back to the night he started with S.W.A.T. in 2018, revealing his brand-new tattoo: a red cross hair. He and many other members of the team are drinking to his new position at Maggie's Bar in Detroit after a drug trafficking bust that day. Eliza Cassan is reporting that there were no casualties for S.W.A.T., and three dead and five injured cartel members. She further reports that over half of the cartel members were augmented. One member of the team dismisses the reports, saying that the cartel members "stayed down when we put 'em down!" He goes on to imply that the only augmentation he really cares about are breast implants. He grabs a female server from behind and gropes her, asking her if she "makes the grade." She tells him to get off, but he doesn't, telling her to stop fighting because he's a member of "Detroit's finest." Jensen pulls him off of the woman, and delivers an uppercut that slams the other cop into the bar. The other cop takes a swing at Jensen, who dodges and throws the other cop in to a table. The other cop comes back up with a broken bottle, but the commander of Jensen's squad, Quincy Durant, grabs him by the throat and orders him to apologize to the server and make sure to give her a massive tip at the end of the night. The other cop, now revealed to be Officer Woodrell, stammers out a "yes sir," and the fight is over. Durant then pulls Jensen aside and compliments him on his performance in the field. He does, however, critique the fact that Jensen went out of his way to wound a man he could have killed. Jensen defends his decision by telling the older officer that he had it covered: the perp only had a blade and was out of range to use it. Durant tells him that there's no room for nobility in Detroit: "Them or us. That's the only choice. Always shoot to kill."
Sarif brings Jensen back to the present, asking him if something's wrong. Jensen says that he's tired of watching people die. Pritchard cuts in to the conversation to announce a holo-call from Zhao Yun Ru, the CEO of Tai Yong Medical. She tells Sarif that he needs the protection of her company. With all of the scandals going on, she says, his reputation is liable to be destroyed. Sarif counters by saying that Sarif Industries has nothing to fear from the goings-on of late, but Zhao reminds him that the coming UN summit threatens heavy regulations to the biotech industry. She invites Sarif to a meeting in London between Sarif, herself, and Bill Taggart. She says that Jensen is welcome to tag along, referring to him as a "pet."
Some time later, Jensen is deployed to find the location of the hacker who was remotely controlling the augmented man that killed himself at the Sarif Manufacturing Plant. Faridah Malik flies Jensen to a location in Montreal. On arrival, Jensen leaps out of the VTOL. On the way down, he contacts Pritchard, telling him that he needs him to hack in to the target building in twelve seconds so that he can approach undetected. Pritchard gets in, and Jensen lands using his Icarus Landing System. Jensen wonders aloud if Pritchard has the right location, given that the best hotel in Montreal isn't generally a place you would find hackers hanging out. Pritchard assures him that it's the right place as Jensen infiltrates the room. As Jensen approaches the room's running shower, a hand grabs him through the steam, whose owner tells him off for sneaking up on a lady while she's showering. Jensen imagines a woman with dark hair, long legs, and elegant beauty. An augmented woman steps out from the steam of the shower, revealing that Jensen's imagined beauty figure wasn't far off the mark. The woman demands to know who Jensen is. He introduces himself as the head of physical security for Sarif Industries, and notes that she's "not like any hacker [he's] ever seen." She says that she's not a hacker, but the woman that they send after augmented individuals who go bad. Jensen wonders what happens if she goes bad, since she herself is augmented, but she says she's always been bad. An explosion in the living room, triggered by Jensen using his sub-vocal communicator, distracts her for a moment, giving Jensen enough time to move from his position on the floor and get behind her, forcing an end to the fight.
After the woman dresses, the two are on much friendlier terms. The woman introduces herself as Lady Katrina Sutherland. Sutherland explains that her job is to hunt down augmented agents who have gone rogue from various government agencies and PMCs. Jensen wonders why a woman with such a posh accent isn't hanging out with royalty. Sutherland tells him that her family fortune was squandered before she was born on booze and gambling. Jensen asks her who she's after right now, but she says that they should talk on their way out, fearing that whomever manipulated Jensen in to coming to the hotel was hoping one of them would kill the other, and that that party would have a backup plan in case it didn't happen. At that moment, the pair come under sniper fire from the building across the street.
Gallery[]
