I have noticed that one of the created characters for this story, Sanders, the VTOL pilote, already has a name that exists in the Deus Ex universe… (Zeke Sanders). I didn't notice that before today ! I'll change his name for Stanley (because Stanley Parable is an amazing game haha). Sorry for the confusion !

Anyway, let's see what happens now...

A few seconds after the massive man just passed by me, I saw the shadow of his pursuer. As swift as a cat, he too didn't make any noise. My heart bumping in my chest, I slew down. Trouble was ahead. And from where I was, I could still see them. They were 50 meters away, but the street was so empty that nothing obstructed my vision.

My mouth was dry. Hands wet. I completely stopped and hid next to the door of one of the buildings. In this era, buildings were well isolated, even cheap ones. The price of soundproof material didn't mean anything anymore. Street fights didn't ever got notice, when you think of it. But well. If the two guys out there caused too much a ruckus...
They were fighting... from what I could see, the smallest silhouette haf managed to steal the bag - this not too pleasantly squarish bag. The other silhouette, the biggest one, was stumbling as if badly wounded. I didn't feel well. I didn't know why. I had to do something before... Yes, he was reaching for the other man. And apparently, he was holding a gun... That was bad. Really bad.

I simply clapped my hands, lowdly, from where I stand. I bit my tongue harshly. He heard me... He heard me ! During a few seconds, time just stopped. I regretted what I'd just done and cursed myself. But from afar, I could see him redirect his attention toward the other shadow.
Then, I gulped. Was he tearing his limbs off ? I tried not to throw up...

Moments later, there was just silence. The big man was gone. The other one just lied there, unconscious... I tried to be brave. I approached him...

"Mister ? Mister ? Can you hear me ?"

Damn... He wished he could just turn off his brain for a minute. He already knew what was to come. It was obvious that he would be labeled as the runaway terrorist. He had a pretty bad memory of being tied up to a EMP chair to suffer questions and whatnot when security gards had found him in a cargo ship a few months ago*. Not that again...
He didn't even have enough strength to open his eyes completely. Sleep. Slumber. Now.
Pitch black.

"Mister ? You..."

I was just upon him now. Strangely, I felt a bit relieved to notice that the arms that had been tore off were bionics... I mean, it was not like REAL arms. And there was not as much blood as expected...
Well, except in the back of his head...
I was not really thinking right now. I just had to hide this man. Quickly. Somehow, I knew that he did a right thing tonight. If I let him alone here though - an Aug, spotted in Nat territory by night ? - things would go bad for him.
I remembered the red lights above the checkpoints in the station. It was an anti-terrorist action. It happened a lot these days. This time, the event would have been triggered in Nat subs, where I lived... I was involved, wether I wanted it or not. And it tied in with what I'd been thinking these last few weeks...

I applied a hand on the man's forehead. Sweat was dripping, mingled with blood. But he didn't seem to be feverish. I had read about Health regulator implants. He looked so heavily augmented I was almost certain he would be back to consciousness - I couldn't really say that he "would be back on his feet..." since they were broken, and well, auto-growing bones didn't already existed, did they ! - in no time...
Then, I would question him. I had to know what all this was about...

I took him with me, leaving my guitar here for the moment. I lived a couple of doors away anyway... I just hoped I was not making a huge mistake here. I valued my life, you know...

[...]

Middle of the afternoon. I had stayed at home all day. I couldn't really leave while an unknown guest was sleeping on the couch in my guest-room. I had taken care of taking the two broken arms off the street. When I had left, there was no trace of any struggle whatsoever, except for some blood stains. People would think that some alcoholic guys had had an argument during the night, nothing more. I didn't know about the anti-terrorist group though. Did they call off the security guards ? Did someone catch the "massive man" during the rest of the night ? I'd been watching Picus TV all day, but appart from announcing a warning of potential threat in the area, nothing had been said about a run away terrorist. No identification of any kind. But I felt elieved somehow : my guest was definitely not one of them.

Suddenly, I realized... I had to examine his belongings. His pockets, for instance... I had to learn about him.
I entered the guest-room. With a gesture, I took back a length of blond hair to put it behind my ear. Time to play detective-girl.
I didn't take off his bullet-proof jacket. I had just laid him here with precaution and put a gauze behind his head. He hadn't move the entire day. He must have been seriously knocked out...
He did have pockets on his pants though. And I managed to extract their content. A pocket secretary, some official papers, a credit card... The usual stuff. I was more concerned about the official papers...

Adam Jensen... 1993... A card indicating a post as security chief for Sarif Industries. A broken SWAT badge. And another badge with only a symbol on it. The american side of Earth, planted with a kind of sword which had a blade made of electronic circuit...

Oaw.
Wait.
That. Right here. That's weird.

Just how did this man had turned from being a SWAT soldier, to an official security chief, to finally end up with a hacktivist group working in the shadows ? Yes, this symbol, it was the Juggernaut Collective... Very little was known about them in the mundane world. All I knew was that they loved to piss off high ranking men with black-suits. They never got in touch with people directly. But sometimes, things got to the world via Info-link and even hidden channels on TVs or radio. They had even managed to hack Picus TV for twenty seconds several times. They were delivering quick bits of information so that they could not be tracked down before disconnecting from the platforms. Manipulation, extorsion, misappropriation of funds... They gave names. Posted them for all to see, before Picus TV erased what was likely to be too inappropriate for those with money. That was a big world we were living in, really...
Those kind of anonymous groups had always existed. But in this era, it was really hard for them. I was pretty sure they were risking their lives by doing what they thought was right. And 80% of the time, it was useless. Security was tight around the information world. Free-internet didn't exist anymore. Well... Had it ever existed in the first place ? We thought so... Just like we thought we were safe right now.

Movements behind me. Was he waking up ? Finally ?
Even if I felt really confused and depressed, I smiled. My impish side took over everytime. I knew what I was about to do would sound really, really lame and cheesy but I couldn't help it. I had to say that, while turning around slowly towards him : ...

"You're finally awake. Adam Jensen."

He anxiousely opened his eyes. Damn. Already...
But strangely, he felt fine. Apart from the big hole in the back of his head - well, it felt like a big hole... - he did actually feel okay... And he was not bound by any rope. Not in a bloody EMP chair either... He was... on a couch ?
Without arms or hands, it was hard to get up. And his abdomen was still weak. He gave up and stood down. With a furred tongue, he tried to speak. His voice was hoarser than ever.

"What is it... A retirement home or something ?"

The room looked really clean indeed. Clean, with white walls and white ceiling. Adam turned his head a bit to discover who his host was.
A young woman. As if considering his question, she looked around and giggled softly.

"You certainly hope so, after all you worked for in your life, but no, it's not."

Saying that, she waved his identification papers in his direction to explain why she'd said that.

"It's just my home. The only problem is... It's a Nat home."

She grimaced a bit, as if she was embarassed.
Considering the situation though, she looked relaxed. Silk blond hair cut into a bob, pale skin and bright brown eyes. Tall and slim, simply dressed with pastel colors. She must have been twenty, twenty-five at most. She continued on :

"I'm not saying that what bothers me is your augmentations, no. But right now, we are both in danger..."

She approached, and put Adam's papers next to him.

"I just checked that, and from what I have seen, I think - just think - I can trust you. There are a lot of questions I want to ask. But first, you have to tell me how I am supposed to get in touch with an aug clinic to tell them they have a patient in Nat Subs..."

She had a point. If Jensen had still his arms, he would have crossed them on his chest in a thoughtfull gesture. After coughing a bit - his throat was so dry... - he said :

"I have to contact someone... I am rebooting my Info-link... Is it safe here ?"

He didn't know why, but he felt like he could trust this girl. It was not as if he was in a comfortable position anyway. He didn't really have a choice. He was limbless after all...

"We are pretty far away from checkpoints. There are no real tracking devices around, from what I know... Well, you actually never know but... I'll let you have your call. I'm gonna find you a glass of water. Sounds like you need one."

She tapped on his shoulder. If Jensen was not that tired, surprise would have shown on his face. It was the first time in several months a non Aug touched him, or talked to him that way. In a friendly way, that is. Maybe humanity was still worth protecting after all.

She closed the white door behind her. A few seconds later, Adam concentrated, and gave his call. Interferences... But through them, he heard a voice :

"Allo ? Hey ? Jensen, is that you ?"
"Hi, Stanley."
"Oh my god, you're still alive ? I can't believe it ! We didn't hear nothing all day ! Nothin' on the news, red lights off the radars... Thought that Marchenko had took you into custody or something !"
"That's not likely. He could have done that though. I wonder why he didn't."
"Where are you exactly ? You sound sleepy."
"More than ever. I'm stuck in a Nat building. In the suburb. Surely you can track my signal down."
"Alex is doing it ATM. She's just here with me. We are back to HQ, I couldn't do anything else."
"That's alright, it's what you were supposed to do. Can you patch me through Vega ?"
"Yeah yeah. Alex*, Adam for you. Linking you through."

Interferences again. Adam waited patiently. Out of curiosity, he activated his Smart Vision while looking at the closed door beside him. The girl looked like she was holding the glass of water. She was standing there, behind the door... Well, who wouldn't, in the situation she was in... And Adam didn't have anything to hide.
Then, a bright voice came in through his Info-link.

"Adam ? How did it go ?"
"Well... No bomb went off. No casulties. But Marchenko ran away and left me in a pretty bad shape. I'm stuck in the room you'll soon have the location to..."
"Bad shape ? How so ?"
"No arms, and broken legs. But at least I can still think clearly."
"Gosh... And I reckon you are in a safe place ? You're not even whispering..."
"A civil brought me to her place. She is harmless. She seems eager to help, actually."
"Okay. We'll bring replacement limbs with us. The simplest kind, so that you can walk again. Then I'll have to talk to you about something...
"Give me the synopsys. I'll have time to think about it..."
"We have a lead... Janus found valuable informations. Interpol is planning something : a new group is being created. I'll explain everything when we arrive. Hang in there, Jensen."
"Well, I have nothing to hang with, but I appreciate the encouragement. Jensen out."

Of course, I didn't hear anything about what the contact said in the opposite line, but... This man was definitely not a bad one. That was a relief. I waited a couple of seconds, and opened the door again when the call was off, a glass of fresh water in hand. Adam Jensen looked at me, and noticed the glass. He gulped.
I helped him drink - it was not easy, without hands - and he sighed. With a grateful expression, he slowly bowed his head.

"Thanks... Miss..."
"Hellen. Hellen Kafka."

I smiled to him.

Right now, I didn't think about my multiple refusal of employments these last months. I didn't think about how I had felt depressed about life around here a few hours ago. I didn't think about mum, about bills to pay, about future days to come.
This was my chance. My chance to get things right. At least for one person out there. I wouldn't act like a monster. I wouldn't act like this man was a freak, a clank, someone to be thrown into a pit. He was a man. He needed help.
He had protected us last night. Even though Nats had been giving hell to Augs these last months. He bothered.
I'd just give back the favor.
I owed him that...
But well, he didn't really have to know.

*Refering to events happening in the Missing Link DLC
*Alex Vega : she appears in the game Deus Ex : the Fall and in the Mankind Divided demo. She is canonically a VTOL pilote in The Fall, and a member of the Juggernaut Collective in the demo.

Hellen is entering a dangerous world, but it's out of courage and gratefulness ! I hope I'll manage to give her a great character developement. There is so much I want to write about her... I actually know the end of the story by now :)

I am sorry if this chapter is awkwardly written. I have some issue with phrasing, since I'm not a native english speaker, but it was fun to try things out...
Anyway, new chapter coming soon... See you all !