Deus Ex Human Revolution: Shadow's Showdown

Chapter 65: The Unperson.

Detroit.
Rupert's home.

Rupert was at Laura's side in a flash. His calmness seemed to balance at the verge of coldness; in reality being only professionalism.

"Look at me!" he commanded, holding her face in his hands.

Laura struggled to focus her gaze on the Scot's face, now stripped of emotion again, similar to Adam's face when she first met him at Sarif Industries. Fear clenched her throat so tightly that she couldn't catch her breath.

"Breathe along with me. Slowly. Inhale and exhale."

She listened to him, trusted and let herself be guided. Rupert was like a lifebelt, thrown to a drowning man, for her. Now he was slowly pulling her to shore. Her heart gradually slowed down and her breathing returned to normal. Even her jittery hands were calmer now.

The psychologist returned to his armchair, having made sure the danger had passed. He lit his pipe again as if nothing had ever happened.

"What does Damien know about?" he asked looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

The woman sighed. His empathy seems to have been eaten by a dog, she thought. Now she couldn't hide anything anymore. Besides, she had come here to talk, and by not being honest she was only hurting herself.

"About the fact that I wanted to kill myself. He'll think he's won again and has power over me."

Rupert furrowed his brow. He despised suicidal people, but his personal beliefs could not interfere with his professional ones. Remaining impartial and listening to what Laura has to say is part of his job. Being as tactful as possible was his key to success in building trust. Besides, she was starting to become more than just a patient. The psychologist realized how big mistake he was making but justified it by the fact that their meetings were unofficial sessions. She didn't even have her medical file.

"Will you tell me more, Evie?" he used her other name intentionally. "Your secrets will remain among the walls of this office," he assured with convincing sincerity.

The woman sighed, and fled with her eyes to the right toward a semicircular niche filled with bookshelves, where had probably been a fireplace in the past. Evie knew she could trust him. Though the feeling was strong, she still hesitated. Uncertainty concerned Damien and his willingness to take Rupert as a target. On the other hand, he could have done something a long time ago so what she says now doesn't matter anyway.

"Adam and Joe's deaths are solely my fault," she choked out. The words burned her throat and tongue as if she had eaten some of the hottest peppers in existence.

Rupert sighed, let the air out through his nose then reached into his pants pocket for a cotton handkerchief. He then took off his glasses and began wiping them. "Talk, talk, I'm listening all the time," he assured.

The man's behaviour threw her off balance. What was he trying to achieve with this? She thought.

"Why do you think that?" he asked, pointing the lenses of his glasses toward the light.
"If I hadn't been in their lives, Damien would have had no reason to kill them."
"How can you be sure he did it? Maybe he was just a pawn in the game, or your subconscious is connecting events in the wrong way?"
"I was at the company when the attack started. Damien sent me a clear message. Besides, I made a serious mistake." The woman bit her lips and clenched the hem of her sweater in her hands. "While strengthening the company's cyber security, I used a code, a way... tricks?" she tried to explain.
The Scot furrowed his brow. "I think I know what you mean."
Evie nodded her head. Not for a moment did she look in the direction of the interlocutor. "Damien took advantage of this fact as if knowing I would do so, and paralyzed the monitoring. After that, everything was easy."
"How did he know your methods?" The psychologist focused his attention on the woman. He decided to use the information he received in the best possible way. At times like this if someone is lying or wants to conceal certain things it is easy to make a mistake. The right words can lead to making one."He taught them to me himself. He thought Joe was too gentle when he tried to break security and use electronic components for his purposes. That's why Damien showed me more invasive and brutal methods, which very often involved killing innocents. I never used them myself, but among them were tricks to make it harder to break security or track someone down. I didn't even think about harming the company with these. I didn't think Adam would get killed because of me..."
"You know, I can keep repeating to the point of boredom that it's not your fault but you have to see it yourself before it's too late. I noticed that Connor is close to you so you are not alone. Let yourself be helped instead of piling up silly ideas in your head about jumping off the roof. I have no idea at all how you survived that fall."