MEHR Chapter 50, snippet 1 (Patreon)

Deus Ex Human Revolution is the property of Eidos/Square EnixMass Effect is the property of Bioware and Electronic ArtsDeus Ex is the property of Square EnixMass Effect: Human Revolution:Chapter 50: In Sheep's Clothing, part 5~[h+]~"Oh, quelle horreur..." said Elsa. What horror. That summed up the gory crime scene fairly well. The European pilot remembered seeing plenty of violence, especially in her teens, when gang wars were common in the less fortunate areas of Paris. She remembered the ugly aftermath of violence motivated by rage, or hate, or sadism, and sometimes even machismo. But as she walked throughout the ruined home of the late Executor Pallin, the sole of her shoes kept inches away from the ground by force fields, she had to admit, Adam Jensen's bloody rampage made her feel a bit ill.Zoller, on the other hand, could barely contain his breakfast. He was currently vomiting in a bag he had brought for just that occasion, when he was told that he would be accompanying Elsa to the scene of a triple murder. The sight of PC Dana Biers, whose face had been clawed off, exposing brains and an eye, had proven too much for his constitution. Three bodies were at the scene, each one belonging to a C-Sec officer that — according to the report Elsa had read on the way — had responded to a robbery in progress. Apparently, the perpetrator had been none other than Adam Jensen and Garrus Vakarian. When they had been caught, Adam proceeded to kill all three officers at the scene while Garrus secured their quarry — Pallin's grandaughter, Livia — in their car. That had been when Spectre Tarkus, with the aid of Spectre candidate John Vandermark and a squad of Alliance Marines, had arrived on the scene. That part of the report had been oddly brief: the squad engaged Adam Jensen, and failed to capture either him or Garrus Vakarian, who had evaded his pursuers towards the Upper Wards.Elsa knelt down by the nearest corpse and examined it. According to the holographic readouts, there was some bruising around Biers' throat that proved that Jensen had tried to strangle her, first. The nearby stain on the wall and fracture on the side of Biers' skull — helpfully highlighted and pointed at by orange arrows — suggested that he then changed his mind and smashed her head once against the wall before clawing her face off. With Jensen apparently lacking actual claws, the blunt force trauma inflicted by his fingers made for a gruesome mess."Jensen seems to enjoy toying with his prey," said Elsa out loud."Hm..." was all that came out of Jondum Bau as a reply."...Is something the matter?""I'm not certain yet. Keep examining the scene, and THEN draw your conclusion, please.""As you wish." Elsa moved on to one of the other two bodies. It seemed that Sam Anders had managed to put up a fight, judging by the marked bullet holes on the walls of the living room. The ones on the ceiling marked the moment when Jensen grabbed Anders by the wrist of his shooting arm, and ripped out the poor police officer's spine and splaying out a few miles of intestines."Oh, Scheiße," muttered Zoller as he came upon the scene."I know," said Elsa. "There's being brutal, and then there's being sadistic." She turned to look at the ensign, and saw that he was getting even paler. "You'll get used to it," she said a bit coldly. "Everyone does.""I'm sorry," he gulped, surpressing a retch. "I thought I was made of sterner stuff, as the english say. I thought that after Noveria...""The cockpit filters out the horror," said Elsa, dismissively. "No need to apologize. Ready for one more?""I... yes, ready, Leutnant."The third victim's body, one Galen Tyrell, was actually outside, a tree branch through his head keeping his feet from touching the ground. Since the branch didn't pierce the brain in the critical area, his death had been slow, though all things considered, he had gotten a relatively less horrible death than his other two fellow C-Sec officers. Caim Carleon stood beneath the shade of the tree, staring up at the corpse, his expression unreadable as several C-Sec officers assigned to keep the house secured kept a wide berth from the racist with swords.Elsa and Zoller returned to the living room, where the 108 and Jondum Bau were waiting for her. She had tried to glean clues from the scene, anything that might give her insight as to Jensen's motives, but all she could see was raw sadism powered by myomer cords. Bau pressed a few buttons on his Omni-Tool, sending commands to every emitter in the house. The haptic displays and holograms of the corpses vanished, much to the relief of Zoller. The blood, however, still remained. The Spectre was now looking at Elsa, awaiting, no doubt, to be impressed. "Your conclusions?" he asked, just as Caim walked in.Elsa was a bit lost: she was, after all, a pilot, not a detective. Then again, all the evidence had been catalogued and highlighted... all she had to do was piece it together. But what was the point? All the evidence, down to every little detail, painted Adam Jensen as a madman.All of it.Wait a minute... she thought. "It's too clean," she then said. "Oh?" Bau suppressed a smile. "What makes you say that?""This feels like an orgy of evidence, all conveniently pointing at Jensen. It's just... having read his profile, if he wanted to murder those police officers, I believe he would have been stealthier and more surgical.""I happen to agree," said a voice. Then, mechanical footsteps came down the stairs, and came around the wall to reveal who it belonged to: a mech, with its curved monocoque shell painted red, its exposed actuators painted silver, and its single eye glowing a bright blue, was instantly recognizable as a Coalition 'Georgie'. "And seeing as I've personally spoken with Adam Jensen, I don't believe in the idea that he's gone completely insane simply for being sacked by C-Sec... especially since the Coalition, among others, was quite interested in giving him a job."Elsa glared at the robot, before finally recognizing the voice that came out of its speaker. "Yang?""Yes, it's me. Why are you..." The mech stared down at its cavernous chest and clawed, ape-like arms. "Oh, right. Robot. I forgot." The Georgie scratched the back of its head, causing the steel to screech, much to the annoyance of everyone. "Ah! Apologies... I'm handling my investigation through telepresence, hence the modified mech. As I was saying, I agree with your assessment of the scene, and I took the liberty of hiring a consulting detective to have a closer look at it. I am more than willing to share his findings with you, assuming you're willing to do the same.""This unit is equiped with a sensor suite rated for crime scene investigations," said the 108, almost proud of the fact."See?" said Zoller. "We have no need for aid, least of all from a Coolie. So leave!"The Georgie was incapable of glaring, but Elsa got the feeling Yang was trying real hard to make it do just that from wherever he actually was. "...I have just as much a right to be here as you do, Ensign. You cannot simply kick me out." The mech turned its glowing gaze upon Elsa. "Are we then to ignore one another, and jealously hold on to our parts of the picture, leaving it incomplete? As I've said, the council expects us to fail. Only cooperation will see us succeed."Elsa let out a sigh. "I suppose it can't hurt to hear what this detective has to say.""Leutnant!" protested Zoller."When is he coming?" she asked, ignoring the ensign. Just as she asked, she heard a C-Sec guard stop someone at the door. She went to investigate the commotion, and saw tall, if a bit lanky asian man trying futilely to prove to the C-Sec officer that he had authorization to be here. He was well dressed, in his long dark tweed coat and blood red scarf, though Elsa wondered why he felt the need to decorate his already finely carved eyepatch with a flower, of all things.