Mission 9:
Hell's Kitchen Revisited
The helicopter touches down on the roof of the 'Ton Hotel. Jock tells JC that the city is under martial law, and to get more information on Dowd's whereabouts at the Underworld Bar.
JC sneaks through the streets, which are crawling with troops. He visits the bar and finds Harley Filben, who reveals to him that he is an NSF spy and has been working for Paul and the rest of the group all along. He gives JC a test to prove his loyalty: kill the tabloid reporter Joe Greene, who is working as a mole for UNATCO. He also finds an off-duty naval officer and friend of Sandra Renton named Vinny, who relays to him that the base he was working at in Brooklyn was shut down suddenly by UNATCO, and gives him a contact to meet if he goes to check it out.
At the free clinic, JC finds Greene and kills him after the latter attempts to get more information about his business in the area. He heads back to Filben, who thanks him and says he will set up a meeting with Dowd at the now-bombed out Osgood & Sons building.
JC pays a visit to Smuggler before heading over. He and the arms dealer get into a discussion about JC's reasons for helping the NSF, and he tells JC to watch his back.
The agent meets with Dowd at Osgood & Sons. The Illuminati lieutenant is suffering from the Grey Death, and relays that he wants the agent to destroy a superfreighter called the PRCS Wall Cloud, which is planning to disperse the virus the next day. He also tells JC about the history of MJ12 - it was an offshoot of the original Illuminati headed by Page, who are trying to use the virus as a pretext to cull the population and take over the country.
Dowd tells him to get some explosives from Smuggler, but the moment is cut short and he is forced to flee while JC deals with an assault squad of MJ12 troops.
JC heads back to Smuggler's, but not before receiving a message from Gunther that he knows what JC is doing and that he won't survive. Inside the hideout, JC buys some LAM's and warns Smuggler to get out of Hell's Kitchen because Gunther is planning a raid on him. Smuggler thanks him, and JC meets back up with Jock to head to the Brooklyn shipyard...
Tropes:
- Ancient Conspiracy: Dowd reveals that MJ12 is a group that split from the Illuminati, which has existed since the days of Thomas Jefferson and Adam Weithaupt.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- A bugged piece of content (later restored in mods like GMDX) would have seen Ford Schick reappear once more in Smuggler's lab, where he will give JC an aug upgrade canister and deliver an Info Dump on the information he's managed to learn about the Gray Death (namely, that MJ12 had access to cell cultures based on JC's biology, and may have used it in the development of the Gray Death).
- In the event that Sandra is still alive and has been convinced to stay in Hell's Kitchen (by her father successfully killing Jojo during the last visit), she'll warn JC that someone was looking for him (which is tied in to the appearance of a thug who will follow JC if Jordan Shea is asked about Dowd's whereabouts).
- Questioning Vinny (the Marine at the Underworld Tavern) and picking a specific option will make it easier to get into the following level (the Shipyard), as Vinny will inform several of his colleagues (including the front gate guards and a dock worker inside the sub pen) to expect him.
- Developer's Foresight:
- Killing Greene before you're asked to results in alternate dialogue from Filben. Likewise, there is an alternate introduction if the player hasn't spoken to Filben at all during his previous appearances.
- If you killed Jordan Shea (the augmented bartender) on your previous visit to Hell's Kitchen, Vinny will chuckle and say, "Someone offed the bartender - drinks are free!"
- If Sandra Renton died prior to JC visiting NYC for the third time (usually as a result of player action), when asked by the soldier in the Underworld Bar if he knows her, JC will lie and say that she was killed by Jojo Fine.
- Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Filben is revealed to be a member of the Illuminati, posing as an NSF agent... who also worked as a UNATCO informant during the Liberty Island raid. Lampshaded when he tells JC that he was working on his side the whole time.
- Fiction as Cover-Up: Greene writes fantastical stories about the plague being a precursor to invasion so that anyone who makes claims that the outbreak is a conspiracy will be ignored or discredited.
- From Bad to Worse: The situation in Hell's Kitchen has become much worse in the few hours/days since JC last visited, with troops having shoot-on-sight orders for anyone who isn't part of UNATCO or MJ12. Reading some of the emails and messages in the trashed Free Clinic reveals that the staff have all fled the hospital, due to a combination of the intensifying riots in the area, the promised funding from Page not materializing and the difficulty trying to source medical supplies.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Despite Paul's apartment being trashed, his hidden room (with a lockpick and multitool pickup) is restocked if you bother to go back and input the code again.
- Guide Dang It!: An extra accuracy weapon modification can be found in a red pipe in the wastewater pool in the sewers — a place you have no reason to visit at this point in the game (the area having long been abandoned and partially-collapsed by the time you show up). This is also expressly not the same weapon mod that could be found on top of the same pipe in the second mission, which may have already been picked up at that time.
- The Mole:
- Joe Greene is revealed to be in league with MJ12, necessitating that JC silence him personally.
- Jordan Shea will also inform UNATCO of Dowd's existence offscreen if JC asks her about the latter's whereabouts (the same as if JC asks Greene about the same thing), more-or-less indicating that she hasn't quite given up her loyalties to her former employer, despite saying otherwise.
- More Dakka: Smuggler offers to sell you as many explosives and rocket rounds as you can carry for the next mission if you visit him before and after the meeting with Dowd.
- No Hero Discount: All of the items Smuggler sells (including the assault shotgun/Sabot rounds/GEP ammo/LAM's) are incredibly expensive, and JC can't get a discount (even if he saved Ford or tries to argue the point). Smuggler justifies this by claiming that it's incredibly difficult to find any weapons from his contacts. There was reportedly a plan to avert this trope on the table by the developers, as an earlier concept for Ford Schick would have Smuggler give JC a steep discount if Ford was rescued earlier in the game.
- Properly Paranoid:
- Filben can comment on JC being this if the latter kills Joe Greene before he's asked to. Lampshaded when JC says, "I don't like people who ask a lot of questions".
- Smuggler is overtly paranoid, and seems to be convinced that UNATCO is going to bring heat down on him just for talking to JC. Of course, he's correct — Gunther is planning an assault on his base, and should JC fail to warn him, Smuggler will die in the ensuing assault.
- Just before entering Smuggler's base, Gunther will call JC on his infolink and brag that he "knows what you are doing... you are finished." Shortly after this, Jock will call to reveal that multiple heat signatures are converging on your area, and to leave quickly.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: If Greene is alive and JC calls him out for his duplicity, Greene realizes the jig is up and comments that "I've been scooped," before attempting to flee the Free Clinic.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Dowd disappears as soon as JC leaves the alleyway he was standing in, even though it's a one-way exit and there was no way for him to leave normally.
- Swiss-Cheese Security: Gunther reveals that he can access JC's infolink while the latter is heading to Smuggler's to get supplies, thus revealing that he knows what the agent is up to and where he's going.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Dowd will go on at length about the connection between Majestic 12 and the Illuminati, even while the streets are filled with hostile soldiers. Notably, the MJ12 attack won't commence until the player walks back around the corner from where Dowd was waiting to speak to him.
- Trash the Set: Most of the surrounding area has been trashed as a result of rioting since JC disabled the transmitter. The Osgood & Sons storefront has been bombed out, the 'Ton Hotel is being used by squatters and is full of debris (as a result of the raid earlier in the game) and the Free Clinic has been abandoned by its staff and has all of its doors ripped off the hinges.
- Turn Coat: Joe Greene, the supposedly helpful and inquisitive Intrepid Reporter, is really a UNATCO spy.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: The player can choose not to warn Smuggler about the incoming MJ12 raid and tell him a lie, thus condemning him (and, if you have certain mods, Ford Schick) to death when they attack. This is despite there being no real reason why anyone would do this, short of malice.
- With This Herring: The player is expected to have a GEP Gun or plenty of LAM's when they get to the Shipyard. Dowd suggests going to Smuggler and buying (overpriced) LAM's, or otherwise grabbing a couple from the shipyard itself. This is justified by the fact that JC is on the lam from UNATCO and doesn't have the usual salary that comes with it, as well as Smuggler saying that it's getting more difficult to source stockpiles of explosives. This is also subverted, in that Smuggler will sell a different set of LA Ms before and after you speak with Dowd. The latter, which is sold at a "loss" at 2,400 credits for a pack of six (versus the first set, sold at 3,500), is still one of the most expensive single purchases in the game.
