Application (underworldwars)
|| Character Information ||
Fandom: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Name: Adam Jensen
Canon Point: Post-game (ending #4 -- where he destroys the Panchaea compound)
Is this character dead? Yes
History: Here
Personality: At first glance, Adam is a jaded hardass. Strict, stoic, and straight to the point, he usually maintains a business-only manner and says little other than what's necessary -- with "what's necessary" being anything it takes to get the job done. A man of the field, he takes any mission appointed to him seriously and will go to all lengths to finish it. To this degree, he's willing to bend the law when the occasion calls for it, even going so far as to obtain illegal evidence to prosecute a criminal; he openly states at one point, "Rules would only slow me down." He's also an excellent liar, posing as everything from a humble office worker to a hitman on the fly to get the information he needs.
Regardless of this job-oriented mindset, Adam is ambivalent on the issue of authority. As long as his employer's interests lie within his moral limits, Adam will obey orders without question or second thought; the moment the line starts to get blurred, however, he'll stand up to anyone and everyone and even interfere if he deems it necessary. In that regard, he despises the idea of higher authority sacrificing the very people it's meant to protect -- power is never worth more than life, and it was this realization that made him quit SWAT: he was sick of serving corporate interests rather than the public that someone in his position was suppposed to be protecting.
He may not seem the type, but Adam has a deep respect for people and a natural inclination to watch over them. This is seen often as he goes entirely out of his way to help those he meets, paying off a ridiculously high gang debt for a woman he barely knows just to keep the bangers off her back, searching for the missing friend of a prostitute he just met, staying by the side of a stranger to convince him not to commit suicide -- and never asking for anything in return. He was turned into a literal killing machine, but he doesn't take lives if he doesn't have to; he feels the temptation to abuse his power time and time again for his own purposes, but always resists it -- partly because he knows what it means to lose one's humanity, and partly because that would make him no better than the self-serving bureaucrats that he hates. To that end, he was willing to die for the sake of humanity, trusting it to move on, survive, and thrive as best it can and always has.
While often appearing cold and even callous, Adam has his soft side. He's been in love before, very much so, and he shows a rare lighthearted, gentle, and even playful nature around his ex-girlfriend, Megan. After she's apparently killed and her attackers leave him for dead, however, Adam's demeanor changes and he rarely opens up to anyone afterwards. He becomes fixated on finding the killers in the name of vengeance -- a personal reason -- as well as justice, and his lethal temper reveals itself often as he confronts these people one by one and refuses to show them any mercy. When he finds Megan alive, Adam explodes at her, accusing her of being a part of Tai Yong Medical's conspiracy and requiring a lot of convincing to think otherwise. In short, he can and will love, but he holds his grudges and beliefs closer; he isn't blindsided by emotion. He is, however, fiercely loyal to those he chooses, enough that he'll jeopardize the mission to stand by a comrade.
Casually speaking, Adam gets along well with people for the most part, although it doesn't take much to get on his bad side. Simply put, he doesn't take any crap -- he'll backtalk in an instant or confront a person on the spot if something doesn't sit well with him. When approached on the street by a man attempting to blackmail him, for example, Adam coolly refused to pay him off and instead threatened to kill him if he didn't walk away.
It's no surprise that Adam works solo most of the time, although that's due largely to the types of jobs he receives. He makes a good ally, however, and will uphold his end of any bargain honestly made. Despite his temper, he's most often level-headed in the field and always quick on his feet; his augmentations have nothing to do with his natural intelligence and abilities of deduction and adaption, which make him ideal in any high pressure situation. He does have something of a soft spot for women, however, which has proven to be a weakness at least once.
Skills | Powers: As an ex-cop, ex-SWAT, and current chief of security at Sarif Industries, Adam excels in hand-to-hand combat -- including offensive maneuvers, self-defense, and disarming techniques -- as well as the handling of a variety of firearms.
Since undergoing his augmentation surgery, he's received a plethora of new abilities. He has InfoLink software installed in his brain, providing him with a permanent HUD display in his vision that allows him to see through walls, track living targets, assimilate a virtual map of his surroundings, hack into high-security computer systems, and provide visual and/or audio feedback to any source tapped into his frequency. Connected to this is his Computer-Assisted Social Interaction Enhancer (CASIE) module, a system that allows him to note and interpret bodily signs of other people to determine their current physical and emotional states. It can also deduce a person's personality type and release an appropriate, undetectable pheromone unique to that type meant to persuade that person into going along with what Adam wants.
His arms have been upgraded with superhuman strength and conceal hidden blades inside either forearm that he can unsheath and retract at will; his legs possess similar strength, allowing him to jump higher and drop farther than the average human, the latter thanks to the Icarus Landing System. His lungs have been upgraded with a filtering system that gives him greater physical endurance as well as immunity to poisonous gases, and his entire body is lined with a weapon system dubbed "Typhoon," a high-speed projectile system that launches a shockwave combined with an explosion of shrapnel in a lethal 360° degree arc. He also possesses dermal armor, a strengthening of his skin that provides extra defense against physical damage, and a cloaking system that renders him nearly invisible to the human eye and entirely imperceptible to any wavelength of visible light.
Due to the technology-heavy design of his body, Adam has an enormous vulnerability against any kind of electromagnetic impulse (EMP), which can cause his entire system to go on the fritz before requiring instant rebooting, thus rendering his augmentations useless in the meantime. Despite his augs -- even the dermal armor -- Adam is still nearly as susceptible to bullets and most other attacks as the next guy; he can actually be killed rather easily, if one is given the chance.
Of course, actually getting that chance is the hard part.
First Person Sample:
Eliza? Eliza, do you copy?
[The video flickers on a few seconds after the sound. A tall man stands on the dock, and there are a few noticeably odd things about him: most evident are his arms, which even from a distance are obviously not flesh and blood. From his fingertips up to where his shoulders disappear beneath body-armor-styled pads, skin is replaced by synthetic covering and thickly insulated, tightly wound cables.
Prosthetics. State-of-the-art, never-before-seen, very expensive-looking prosthetics.
Second, his face -- the left side, especially -- is covered in deep scars, and something like an indented brand adorns the skin above his left eyebrow.
And third, he seems to be talking entirely to himself. He's looking down and to the side, his sunglasses hiding the exact direction of his gaze, but he's obviously staring at no one.]
Eliza? [A pause, and his head twitches slightly to the side as if something caught his attention.] Pritchard? Do you copy?
[Another pause, and then he shifts his weight, obviously agitated.] Shit, anyone on this frequency?
[And yet more silence. Finally, he looks up again and in the direction of the city, going completely still for a few seconds -- and then without warning his head turns suddenly and sharply in the direction of the tablet, which is propped up against the corner of the pier.
Another moment of that almost inhuman stillness -- and then he speaks, this time addressing the device.] Funny. You almost had me for a second there. [His gruff voice doesn't sound the least bit amused.] But I doubt Hades would have gone to the trouble of keeping up with technology -- that's a bit of a giveaway.
[Nothing about his face or posture or tone budges.] Who are you? And more importantly, how the hell am I alive?
Third Person Sample:
He wasn't sure how long he stood there, the only sound the subdued buzz of the computer screens as they continued to flicker. He might once have counted on the dull thud of his heartbeat in his ears to help break the silence, but even that was muted, hooked to some upgrade that allowed him to move -- no, exist soundlessly. Standing amid all the machinery as he was, it was a little fitting. Birds of a mechanical feather.
"Adam."
The word was gentle. Not a push, not questioning -- just there, in Eliza's comforting tone, saying he wasn't entirely alone. Not now, not once he made his decision, not after. She was watching him as she had been for months in her strangely curious way, simply observing, following, telling him just enough to help him get to where he needed to be.
Ironic, wasn't it? Adam had been walking a fine line for months now: on one hand, the diverse human population, either damning him or encouraging him or using him or wanting to be like him; on the other, the shadow of what he could have become, always there and waiting and within reach -- all he had to do was turn his back on that other side. All the while, he'd stubbornly clung to his roots, his humanity, and in the end it was a sentient computer system that had become his biggest ally -- who, on some levels, understood him better than anyone else.
Blinking, he broke from his fleeting train of thought. For every second that he spent debating, there was a chance another person was dead in the result of Darrow's madness. Even with the literal weight of the world on his shoulders, that was unacceptable.
"Yeah," he replied gruffly, acknowledgement that he was still with her. The three panels continued to stand in front of him, unassuming and silent except for their low hums of power.
Lies, a madman's truth, and more lies. One extreme to other, it seemed, each forcing him to choose one of those sides he'd been living between for -- six months? Only? And yet the more he'd thought about it, standing there and letting precious time pass, the more he'd found himself feeling detached, calmer, considering everything Eliza had said with equal attention.
Logic. It was one thing his augmentations hadn't been able to upgrade. They'd given him the opportunity to make quicker choices, more accurate decisions, but not better ones. That much was up to him.
Logic said what he had to do. Logic had known the moment Eliza suggested it; emotion, and some natural fear, maybe, had rejected it.
But people were dying and he controlled the future.
Moving forward, Adam raised a hand to let it hover over the middle button: Darrow's message, recorded and ready as it had been all along. The color behind it pulsed, gentle and patient.
Another moment's hesitation, and then his hand lowered -- to shut the plastic casing back over the button, rendering it inaccessible. Eliza, doubtlessly watching, said nothing, even as Adam did the same to the other two solutions, closing off those first three options.
The monitors continued to rattle off background noise, effectively drowning out what little sound Adam's movements made as he turned towards the hall on the left. Without a word and taking only a second to ponder reconsidering, he started down it, leaving the voices to fall on an empty room as he felt -- sensed -- Eliza's presence follow him.