Recap / Deus Ex Mission 02 Hells Kitchen

Mission 2:

Hell's Kitchen

JC arrives at the dock and is immediately approached by Anna. She tells him that the NSF troops are in full retreat and have hunkered down inside the Castle Clinton kiosk. Enlisting the aid of a nearby child who was spying on the troops' activities at the dock, he learns that there is a back way into the kiosk.

JC subsequently goes through the tunnels underneath the kiosk and takes out several troops, then finds the missing barrel of Ambrosia.

Back at ground level, Anna thanks him for his help and informs him that the NSF have taken hostages inside the nearby subway station. She gives him two EMP grenades to disable their electronic defenses and JC leaves. Soon after, he arrives near the station, only to find a running battle between UNATCO and NSF forces. JC successfully stops the terrorists in the station and asks the hostages what happened. A woman informs him that they left those forces behind to cover their escape to Hell's Kitchen, and he comments on the pointless waste of life that has occurred.

JC takes the subway to Hell's Kitchen. He is once again met by Paul, who tells him to investigate a hostage situation at the 'Ton Hotel and talk to some of the locals to find out more information on the generator's whereabouts.

UNATCO and NSF forces are engaging in a massive firefight on the street just outside the hotel. In the aftermath, JC meets with several soldiers, including one who briefs him on the situation inside the hotel. Inside, JC saves hotel owner Gilbert Renton from a NSF thug, then dispatches several others holding hostages. Gilbert thanks JC and says he hopes that they'll get things back on track. He also JC to keep a look out for his daughter, Sandra.

Back on the street, JC finds Sandra being accosted in an alleyway by a pimp, Johnny, who is trying to force her to get back to work. JC threatens and eventually kills Johnny, to Sandra's relief. She informs him of various locations throughout the area, and also gives him the password to Smuggler, a high-grade weapons dealer.

JC heads over to Smuggler's hideout and meets the paranoid dealer, who talks about how cautious he is and that friends of his have been kidnapped. When JC asks which ones, Smuggler tells him that his friend Ford Schick is being held in a Majestic 12 base in the sewers. JC can't believe it, but Smuggler gives him a key and tells him to check it out for himself.

In the sewers, JC discovers the base and finds a terrified Schick, whom he helps to escape. Near the sewer entrance, Schick tells him that he'll be alright, and that the soldiers had him injecting homeless people with the virus.

JC then heads to the Underworld Tavern, where Sandra's friend Janey expresses relief that she's safe, and a nearby pilot discusses his work at Area 51 when JC buys him a beer. The pilot then reveals that he works for UNATCO as Paul's pilot, and asks JC to respect his brother's experience.

After learning the location of the generator, JC heads through the Osgood & Sons building and over rooftops towards the NSF base. He dispatches several more troops, then blows up the generator. Alex informs him to return to base via a helicopter landing on the roof. Gunther meets him at the top, explaining that Paul was timid and couldn't do his job. JC goes to get on the helicopter, and finds that the pilot is the same man who spoke to in the bar. Jock, as he calls himself, flies JC back to the base.

Back at base, Alex informs JC that Paul lost his nerve, while Carter and Reyes express disdain for the amount of bloodshed that is being caused. When JC arrives at Manderley's office for the briefing, Anna is also waiting because the door is locked. JC listens as Manderley speaks with the FEMA representative, who is discussing Paul's recent actions. The rep, Walton Simons, tells Manderley to fire Paul, despite the latter's attempts to absolve his agent. Simons leaves, though not before telling JC that he will be rewarded for doing great work.

Manderley tells JC that Paul has been let go, and that the shipment of Ambrosia has been moved to a private airfield in Laguardia Airport that is owned by NSF supporter and financial backer Juan Lebedev. Manderley implores JC to find and recover the shipment, as it's their last chance before it leaves the country for good. He tells JC to start searching for leads at Battery Park, and dismisses him. Before JC leaves, Anna walks in and begins discussing an assassination assignment that she thinks JC would be perfect for...

Back outside, JC boards Jock's helicopter and they head back to Battery Park...

Tropes:

• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The MJ12 base in the sewers underneath Hell's Kitchen, which is home to spacious passageways JC can travel through.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Jock lays out a conspiracy-laden theory (which spoils the plot of the game) involving Area 51, a shadow government and the need to take control out of the hands of the people. JC quickly dismisses it as a crackpot theory, but as the game goes on, everything Jock said comes true.
• Crapsack World: Battery Park and Hell's Kitchen are filled with homeless and displaced residents, and the various pieces of literature you find throughout the maps point to a situation that is growing steadily worse by the day.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The Battle of Squalnomie, based on the conversation heard between the two homeless men in the Free Clinic in Hell's Kitchen. According to their dialogue, the NSF invaded the city of Squalnomie against federal forces at night using thermal camo, and effortlessly wiped out their opponent (to the point that it's considered an in-universe "old shame" for the federal brass). JC will comment on one of the homeless residents' survival (he was on the losing side) if certain restored content mods are installed.
  Homeless Man: Yeah. It was night, they came in with thermoptic camo and we never picked 'em up on any of the sensors. What a goddamned mess.
• Cutting the Knot: JC can try to reason with Johnny and negotiate for Sandra's release (under the guise that he wants to hire her as a prostitute), threaten him... or he can just shoot him dead before they even speak.
• Death of a Child: You can kill the children living in Battery Park with no consequences or remarks from anyone else.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • There's a sick man in Battery Park who begs you to kill him. If you try, he doesn't turn hostile and flee like most NPCs. (The police don't seem to care either, though that's less the dev team thinking of everything and more the dev team crafting a convincing dystopia.)
  • If you choose to handle the situation in the Battery Park subway station before clearing out Castle Clinton (despite nothing in the Goals tab telling you otherwise), Anna will have extra dialogue praising JC's abilities. If you do both, she will be nearly in awe, and JC has different dialogue explaining how it was a pleasure working with her.
  • Conversely, you can completely skip the Castle Clinton objective and go directly to Hell's Kitchen. Doing so earns some harsh words from Anna when you return back to base, and the conversation between Anna and Manderley afterwards changes to reflect JC's lack of experience. Additionally (in certain restored content mods), if you skip Castle Clinton, go to Hell's Kitchen and then take the subway back to Battery Park to talk with her, Anna has unique dialogue criticizing you and saying she found the Ambrosia herself.
  • If you somehow manage to get on the train near Castle Clinton without first resolving the hostage situation one way or the other (a feat that is supremely unlikely given that the hostages, the laser triggers for the explosives they're trapped with and all the terrorists are between you and the train), Paul will admonish you with special dialogue when you arrive in Hell's Kitchen.
  • Additionally, if you kill the subway hostages after rescuing them and helping them get to Hell's Kitchen, Manderley will still acknowledge your failure during the post-mission briefing.
  • Similar to the System Shock example mentioned on the main page, getting a basketball through (or very close to through- off the backboard and rim works as well) a hoop at the basketball court in Hell's Kitchen will spawn the message, "Someone sign him up for the Knicks!" If you do this the first time you're in Hell's Kitchen and then do it again when you return, you'll get a different message - "You should be playing football - Go Cowboys!" (Ion Storm was based in Texas.) On your third visit, there is yet another new message for doing this.
  • Manderley will chew you out after the mission for executing a civilian, if you kill Joe Greene during his first appearance at the Underworld Bar. Likewise, you can get a special conversation with Filben much later in the game, where he comments on how Properly Paranoid JC has become. Conversely, Manderley will chew out J.C. for speaking with him, telling him "Loose lips sink ships."
  • If you decide to glitch through the NYC sewer grate during the MJ12 mission for Smuggler without going to see him first, when you get to the end, JC will ask Ford Schick about the identity of the soldiers, and not have any clue about Smuggler's task. Smuggler's dialogue also changes to reflect the unplanned rescue. This appears to be a remnant of a scrapped plan to allow the player to access the sewers at any time without visiting Smuggler first, but the dialogue is still correctly implemented in-game.
  • There are a whole range of options dealing with Sandra Renton. Not only can she be saved from Johnny in the alleyway, but her friend in the Underworld Bar has different dialogue depending on whether JC has already encountered Sandra or not, and whether Johnny is dead/incapacitated or not.
  • When you visit UNATCO after completing Hell's Kitchen (during Walton Simons' visit), you can watch the interrogation of the terrorists captured in Castle Clinton. You can go into the cell once the doors are open, watch the interrogation, and even execute or interrogate them by yourself. Simons is not amused, and tells you so, as do his goons. Conversely, leave him alone, and said goons will thank you for being considerate of their boss.
• Didn't See That Coming: The first notable example in the game. Neither MJ12 (who instigated the chlorine leaks into the city's water supply) nor Smuggler (who has no recourse to rescue his friends who have been disappearing) are prepared for the arrival of JC, who (with Smuggler's key) can rescue Ford and destabilize MJ12's operation. The next time the player visits (if they go down during the Transmitter mission), the base will have been leveled, presumably by The Man Behind the Man, in order to cover their tracks.
• Divided States of America:
  • A homeless man in Battery Park talks about the Northwest War and the early days of the NSF. If you look into this, the game's backstory mentions that after the West Coast was devastated by a massive earthquake (the after effects can be seen on world maps throughout the game), several states seceded from the Union after they felt like the Federal government abandoned them. The country is back together, but remarks made by JC hint that the US is on the verge of a third civil war.
  • Two other homeless men can be heard discussing the Northwest War (specifically, the Battle of Squalnomie) in the Free Clinic. One of them was traumatized by his experiences during the war.
• The Driver: Jock, who is revealed in dialogue to have flown Paul Denton to various locales in the past, and later does the same for JC at the end of the mission.
• Drunken Master: Jock, to an extent. The first time he gives JC a ride, he brings up the fact that he was just drinking in the bar not too long ago, and says that he's a better pilot when he is not wound up.
• Dummied Out:
  • A message left on a phone in Paul's apartment that would have hinted towards his loyalties to the NSF.
  • An unused bit of coding would have allowed JC (if the player was savvy enough) to walk all the way back from the generator after destroying it, with Alex even asking them to get back to Jock's helicopter. If they got all the way back to the police boat at the Battery Park docks, the pilot would have unique dialogue (talking about how Manderley has "some bad news" and that they need to get moving) before the mission ends, acting as a unique exit point. The triggers and dialogue still exist in the game, but are unimplemented.
• Escort Mission: Briefly, when JC rescues Ford from the MJ12 base.
• Expospeak: Sandra does this if she is rescued just after JC arrives in Hell's Kitchen. She tells him about various people and situations in the local area, and answers his confused or questioning queries with more information.
• Fantastic Drug: Zyme, the "new thing from New York" that causes a drunk-type effect when JC consumes it, and can be first found by the eagle statue in Battery Park (and soon after, by the bodies of two junkies who died in one of the hotel rooms at the 'Ton). Various characters throughout the game will discuss just how popular the drug became in a short period of time.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Nearly everything with the MJ12 base in the sewers underneath Hell's Kitchen has this, such as the player only learning their login for the security system ("mj12 / coupdetat") a few minutes before Ford Schick more-or-less tells JC the same thing once he's rescued, and the existence of a chemical plant that has been blamed for a chlorine spill (as seen in a news story in one of the public terminals) is revealed as the same place MJ12 have been dumping chlorine into the water supply to make residents sick.
• Foreshadowing:
  • An unused phone message (which would have been accessed in Paul's apartment) would have an unknown contact talk about "South Street going up in smoke", foreshadowing a situation whose effects JC will encounter in the following mission (the collapsed tunnels in the abandoned subway station near Battery Park).
  • The plague victims in Battery Park and the Free Clinic have several different theories for the Gray Death outbreak. An irate man in the clinic claims the virus is man-made, and it's further theorized by the old soldier who claims microscopic warfare is the new thing. A homeless man in Battery Park will claim you have the disease in you, which is technically true, since the virus is actually a nanotechnological compound which destroys the body similar to an actual disease and uses the same foundation as your nano-modified body.
  • If you take the time to get a beer for him, Jock gives you an Info Dump of information he's allegedly learned as a pilot, including the existence of a base underneath Area 51, how the place has apparently been hollowed out due to shipments of rock being taken from the site, a mention of rumors involving aliens from another planet, another rumor that a "private corporation" has bought the site, and Jock's own speculation that an AI called "Echelon IV" has been moved there by the UN. To the new player, Jock's comments are akin to that of a Conspiracy Theorist, and even JC doesn't take him seriously. In actuality, Jock is foreshadowing the last mission of the game, and his comments turn out to be completely accurate.
  • One of the public news terminals in the 'Ton Hotel mentions that a new submarine pen was completed at the Brooklyn Naval Shipyards, with philanthropist Bob Page in attendance and a seemingly-altruistic story about how the sub pen was built to "further the continual renewal of the city" by Page and his company, Page Industries. You visit the shipyard later in the game, and discover that the story was a front for a much larger operation by Page.
  • One of the emails written in the sewer base is explicitly from an official named "WS", who is advising the commander of the base on how to best execute their plans. "WS" won't be seen in-person until the mission is completed.
• "Friends" Rent Control: Subverted. Even though Paul is one of UNATCO's top agents, he lives in a dingy apartment in a rundown hotel in Hell's Kitchen. However, he also has a hidden computer setup and plenty of supplies and equipment. It's never made clear if he made the choice to live in the 'Ton Hotel deliberately, or was intentionally throwing UNATCO off the trail because he works for the NSF.
• Hostage Situation: Heading into the 'Ton for the first time reveals that NSF forces took several hostages in an attempt to stonewall UNATCO during their escape with the Ambrosia.
• Human Resources: Ford reveals to JC that MJ12 kidnapped homeless people in Hell's Kitchen and forced him to inject them with Grey Death to see how the virus worked.
• I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: The Free Clinic staff and patients if you run in while holding any weapon.
• Laser Hallway: In the MJ12 base in Hell's Kitchen.
• No Hero Discount: Averted. A pair of UNATCO soldiers hand JC a stack of gas grenades near the 'Ton Hotel, and Smuggler gives the agent a big discount on his hardware if Ford is rescued (which continues into JC's next visit to the area, as restored in certain mods).
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish":
  • Invoked in-universe. Paul leaves a Datapad for JC in the former's apartment at the 'Ton, noting that if he "needs help with... work", to check behind the painting and count down from 4. This is a suggestion to "activate" the painting (revealing a keypad) and typing in the code "4321", which activates a hidden room behind a bookcase that has supplies and a computer with some interesting emails Foreshadowing later events.
  • One of the ATM accounts that can be learned is the login and password "123456/7890", which awards the player with an extra 125 credits (and can be used again on a later visit to award even more credits).
  • The password for the MJ12 Armory in the Hell's Kitchen sewer is "007".
• Properly Paranoid: Smuggler is convinced that there's a major conspiracy underway in the city, and remarks on how Ford was kidnapped by MJ12 troops. JC thinks it's far-fetched, but Smuggler is proven to be right when JC investigates the base and discovers the evidence of MJ12's involvement in spreading the Grey Death.
• Shipper on Deck: After JC comes back from the city, one of the soldiers remarks that Anna was incredibly impressed with his abilities, and says that the two of them would make a nice couple.
• Two Shots from Behind the Bar: Jordan Shea (the bartender in the Underworld Bar) has a sawed-off shotgun behind the counter. However, she also carries her own.
• Unintentionally Unwinnable: If you choose to take the subway car back to Battery Park just after reaching Hell's Kitchen, you'll get stuck in a permanent loop where entering the subway back to Hell's Kitchen results in the player being transported to the starting point of Battery Park, ad infinitum. The only way to fix it is to reload a saved game from before the glitch was triggered.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The UNATCO troops at the base don't seem to care about JC barging into their office and looting everything in sight, nor do they care that he barged into the women's bathroom and spooked Shannon.
• Urban Segregation: Hell's Kitchen is mostly walled off from the rest of the city via walls constructed by UNATCO, in order to "maintain peace".
• Video Game Caring Potential:
  • You can give the two kids in Battery Park food to keep them from starving (one of which is located right after you speak with Anna on the dock). You don't need to do this to progress, and the only thing it gets you is a bit of intel and a code for an alternate entrance into Castle Clinton, but it feels right to help them.
  • You can give ten credits to a homeless woman in Battery Park who has the Grey Death.
  • Saving Sandra from Johnny earns her admiration and respect for JC, as she admits that she would have been a goner without his help.
  • If you go to the trouble of helping the UNATCO troops with the fighting in front of Osgood & Sons (killing several enemies personally), the soldiers will personally thank JC for "getting the guy who killed (a soldier named) Jones" and speak highly of him to Scott (the front desk clerk at UNATCO HQ) after the mission.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Various newspaper clippings and emails you read throughout the mission showcase Bob Page, a seemingly-altruistic philanthropist who may be hiding a darker side...
• We Will Have Euthanasia in the Future: An email you read on Paul's computer mentions a suicide clinic that pays its customers' families 10,000 credits if they use it.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: The player can learn about the not-so-villainous nature of the NSF early on, when a Datapad found in the 'Ton Hotel during the Hostage Situation reveals an NSF soldier's fear that they've never trained for such a situation and are in over their head, having only taken hostages as a last resort. Combined with the dialogue gleaned from the hostages in the previous mission (who escape on the subway with JC to Hell's Kitchen), the situation paints a picture of a force that has been increasingly-pushed to trade the lives of hostages just to buy enough to get away with the Ambrosia.
  JC Denton: (referring to the Hostage Situation in the Battery Park Subway) Precious, indeed. They just traded half-a-dozen lives for a couple of minutes.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • As a result of the Battery Park operation, Anna will always chew out JC (particularly if he fails to save the hostages in the station before assaulting Castle Clinton), regardless of the end result, and will later complain about the same thing to Manderley, noting that their tactics are "incompatible".
  • Paul gives JC an epic rant if the latter completely avoids the confrontation with the terrorists in the subway, forcing Paul to go and fix it himself.
  • Manderley harshly rebukes JC for executing a civilian if the player killed Joe Greene in the Underworld Bar.

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