Harmony

har-mo-ny [hahr-mug-nee]

Music: The simultaneous combination of tones, especially when blended into chords pleasing to the ear; chordal structure, as distinguished from melody and rhythm.

Summary: All this story is based to friendship of Adam and Deanna and that helps them over taught times. There will be joys, sorrows, but nothing they would not be able to overcome. I am not revealing what this is all about now.

Warnings: dark humor, violence, swearing, etc. I don't own Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Sarif Industries, Jensen (all owned by Eidos Montreal/Square Enix) nor I am making profit with this bla bla blaa. However, copying and publishing this text somewhere else without proper credit and mentioning of Eidos Montreal, DS: HR and the original writer is against good manners. First chapters are pre game events and I will warn you when I start post-game section. With multiple option game, it contains spoilers, surprise surprise.

Just passing by

Adam entered the Sarif Corporation. The secretary greeted him with a cheerful voice, as usual, and he nodded in reply. It was Sunday morning so only a few people were working. Most of them were scientists, who were too deep in their research to notice which day it was, or just people who were a necessity to keep the building running.

Most blended into a mass, expect one individual. They both headed for the stairs, she a few meters ahead of him. If Adam remembered correctly, she was part of the IT-security staff. What he could see of her from behind was dark blond hair cut short, unfashionable and baggy clothes, and a high pitched voice, which was currently accusing her comlink. However he was not sure if he knew her name or if he'd even see her very often.

"Christ, Asimo. You really should check out who you hire as your minions. Reg's an idiot."

There was a moment of silence.

"No, you listen. This is not first time she's sent me to do an intern's job. You, if anyone, should know that I have better things to do than push a button to get a computer to clean itself of a virus. You're only keeping her because you like to watch her ass."

Adam could not help but smile a little for the female. She had the right attitude. She continued on up the stairs, while he headed to Pritchard's office. As usual he stepped in without knocking.

"What do you want now?" the cyber-security chief barked.

"Nice to see you too. And I actually have something for you", Adam answered. Seeing Pritchard pissed off more than usual made the sun shine from cloudless sky.

"How lovely, me getting more useless work from you."

"I don't think so. You might actually like this", he said and tossed the data storage device on his desk.

"I found some interesting documents with secured files. I thought you'd like to have a look."

He enjoyed seeing Pritchard squirming inside his skin. It was not obvious, but his glance kept returning to the corner of his eyes. To relieve the poor man from his suffering, Adam turned around.

"See you Pritchard."

"Piss off, Jensen. Go to Megan and see if she would give a fuck."

Meanwhile another member of their IT department was busy with her work. Now she was in her rat hole of a room fixing a computer with a busted component. This was actually a part of her job that she liked. She did not have to see any people and something needed to be repaired. Only thing she did not like that she had to do it in her office. Already small office had some extreme makeshift solution that there was enough room to move and work. She had tried many times to tell her boss that she needed a bigger workshop.

Too bad the said bitch and Deanna's superior, Regina Caron, only saw her own ass. It was true that she was a gifted programmer but what kept Reg in her position was her ability to sweet-talk everyone approaching her. Lack of social ability was Deanna's biggest flaw and advantage. It made her terrific with machines but miserable for customer service.

Someone cleared their throat. Deanna looked up from the floor. Think of the devil and it appears. The blond wondered a moment if she should keep the music blasting or not, but decided to turn the volume down.

"Yes, Caron?"

"I just passed by to see how my favorite employee is doing. And Athene said there's a glitch in her comlink."

"And I say that it is not my cup of tea. I might be the help desk of this company but there's a limit even to my boundaries. And if you actually looked around, you would see that I am at my limits already", Deanna said with a poisonous tone, covered with sugary sweet icing.

"Which half of is your personal junk that should be removed. I swear that I should have this room cleaned from this trash", Caron said.

"Whatever you say, but don't you dare. Because after that I'll be talking with the big boss and then you have to explain why there are no spare parts available. You really want to risk your neck there? Now, if you would be so kind, I have some work to do."

Deanna yawned and turned the music back up. Caron tried to yell something over the voice but did not have any response. Angry, the woman stormed off, probably seeing that her unworthy minion wouldn't receive a raise in few years. But it was really worth it, so Deanna was fine. She could afford to have a roof over her bed, some credits for food and Nu-pozs, pay her electricity bill and so on. Only bug in the perfect life was the people like Caron. Also most scientists fell to this category.

The ringing of her comlink interrupted her train of thoughts. "Greylake."

"Hey, it's Megan. I'm sorry to disturb you but one of the section 3B lab computers was damaged and it holds some important data files."

Deanna moaned. "Doctor, I have told you this a thousand times. Use the central memory station. And no test subjects near the computers. They only end up breaking things."

"I know, I know. Like I said, I'm sorry. But you know that they don't mean it. They just don't realize their own powers."

"Like jumping through bulletproof glass. If I remember correct, it took three days to get the cables hooked again. But fine, I'll head up."

"Thank you. You're a treasure", Megan said, sounding truly relieved and disconnected. Deanna had to smile. At least somebody acknowledged her value. She collected her tools and put them to their places before heading again.

Doors hissed shut behind the tech support. Labs made her feel really uneasy. Maybe it was the amount of people who worked there, or what they did. Now she saw at least three rooms with white coats, poking test subjects or making notes.

It was the robots she marveled at. They were the best one could buy and it showed. Maintaining them also gave a nice rise in Deanna's, and her co-workers, pay checks.

She reached the B section, where a member of Doctor Reed's team greeted her.

"Hey Deanna. Megan's busy right now but mentioned you would be coming. Have to say that things are hectic here."

Deanna looked at the female. Jazmine was in her early 30's, a bit skinny woman with large eyes and a friendly smile.

"How so? I thought that things were hectic here always."

"We'll be publishing something revolutionary. I can't say much about it, but it will be something huge", Jaz explained during their walk. Deanna noticed her resting her hand on her stomach and smiling softly. If the tech remembered correct Jaz had a child with her partner Jacob.

"Are you and Jacob having another one?" she asked boldly and nodded towards Jaz's stomach. Jazmine blushed heavily.

"Am I that obvious? Yes, we are. We actually found out just recently so hush", Jaz answered.

Deanna made a closing-a-zipper move before her lips. "I won't say a word. So instead, where is my baby that needs repairing?"

"The one lying there. For some reason our patient got a panic attack. He was testing a new type of hand augmentation", Jaz said. She pointed to a computer screen, which lied knocked over. Deanna took a long inhale. It hurt her soul to see a piece of art mutilated violently. There were dents all over the metallic frame and a few places the metal had been actually pierced.

"I have to take it with me to see the internal damage. Probably I'll have to replace it but I'll try my best to see if the memory was saved", Deanna said. Jaz nodded.

"Megan was afraid so. Please, try your best. Some results are really important."

"We'll see, we'll see", Deanna muttered when she disconnected the rest of the cables.

Jaz returned her work. The technician was concentrated on her task so she did not notice the new person entering the room.

"Deanna? C-could you spare a moment?"

She jumped around out of surprise. It was Darius, Reed's lab-assistant.

"Did you crash your computer again?" she asked and massaged her temples. The soft-featured male was all thumbs when it came to computers. Maybe his field was somewhere else than using machines.

"I, hm, no, it's not about that", he said.

Deanna sighed and continued to unplug the cables. "Then what is it?"

"W-would you go out with me?"

Shit, did he seriously just ask that? Deanna groaned mentally. She bit her lip, wondering what to answer. She really didn't want to hurt the man's feelings but she had no interest in him, or dating in general.

"I-I'm sorry Darius but no. If you excuse me, I'm busy", she said and lifted the computer. She had marched past him when he called after her.

"Why not? Please, I beg you. You'd be surprised", he pleaded to her.

Deanna looked over her shoulder.

"I am not interested. Understand it."

"But why? If you knew me better-"

"Darius. Honestly, that only sounds pathetic. Accept that I'm not interested and move on", she stated with cool tone.

"Then what you are interested in?"

Heroes, but you can never be one Deanna wanted to say.

"That's none of your business", she snapped and hurried away from the awkward situation.

She had almost cleared the lab section when somebody yelled behind her back. "Hey bitch, when will you clean my computer? I sent a report two weeks ago."

"As soon as you will stop filling it with shit. Our logs show that there are at least five visits to xxx-rated pages and I'm not going to talk about the solitaire sessions, which have been played after you reported. You're lucky that I'm not reporting you", she yelled over her shoulder. The previous encounter with Darius had left her sour.

The voice was recognizable enough to identify the screamer. Misha Herceg was a real bully, who put pressure on everyone who worked under him. Only 27 years old, the genius had his own research team that worked with augmentations suitable for kids. Which seemed to mean he also thought that everyone else was below him.

"And I say that you are an idiot as I never misuse my computer. So say that again and I'll make sure you regret it", Herceg threatened her.

Deanna stopped and turned around.

"How? I only state facts. What interests me is the well-being of these computers. You can't work without them and the company does not run without you. So as much as I hate it, I do my best to keep them running. But people like you seem not to understand that something is required from your end as well. Somebody will clean it, but next time there is a report from you, I'll personally see that it goes to Pritchard and ask his opinion."

"As if you would do something like that. Regina keeps you on too tight leash", Herceg snarled. Guards near them grew alerted. Herceg was a tall man with threatening aura and Deanna had to admit she started to feel nervous. She was not short but compared to him she was the underdog.

"I have better things to do than argue with you", she said and turned around.

Herceg looked smug. "Ah, yes. Somebody has to earn their pay checks. How sad that you techs have so small pay compared to us, who do real work."

I'm not hitting him. I'm not hitting him, she thought when she stormed towards the elevators and her nest. There she would be safe from monsters like Herceg. She just wanted to punch that cocky smile away from his face. He was lucky that she did not believe in violence as a problem solver.

Adam wondered what had happened. He was trying to find Megan and ask if she would like to have dinner with him after work. It had been a while since they had had some private time. He was worried she would push herself too far but now that concern was pushed away momentarily.

"What happened here?" he asked one of the guards.

"Nothing too special, sir. Just one of the laboratory workers was bullying an IT-department member. Thought it was partly her fault as well, sir", the guard answered. Was his name Roach or something like that? Generic armor made it hard to separate individuals.

"I'll be sure to mention it to Doctor Reed or Pritchard. They will see what has to be done", Adam answered.

"Thank you sir, I'd really like that. Lately the scientists here have been a bit snappy towards everyone", the guard answered.

Adam nodded. "I am afraid so. Doctor Reed has talked with me about that and wishes for understanding. The upcoming press conference is a huge thing", he said.

The guard shrugged his shoulders. "I guess so but I'm surprised there have not been any fights. People are really stressed and it won't take much to trigger an augmented war veteran."

"I'll see what I can do. Thank you for notifying me", Adam said and moved forward.

What he just heard worried him. If anyone with a new augmentation lost their cool it would be disastrous. After wandering around a moment he finally found what he was looking for.

"Hey Adam, what are you doing here?" Megan asked. Adam noticed that she did not give him a kiss or even a hug. She barely moved her head to his direction.

"Came to see you, and ask you to dinner after work. Also things seem to be a bit hot here. Someone was picking on tech worker", Adam said.

"It has to be Misha. He's a gifted kid but his attitude needs some working", Megan groaned.

"Adam, I promise I'll talk to him. However, we can't do anything real until he violates the rules of the company really bad", she continued. Adam looked at her puzzled.

"His computer often needs cleaning up or things like that. He claims that he never visits questionable sites but tech-side's investigation told us different. Pritchard stands behind his team 110%. So we are between a rock and a hard place. Personally I believe Misha is smart boy and the company needs him", Megan explained.

"So that causes bad blood between them? Doesn't seem too complicated", Adam answered.

"Pritchard said that they are still trying to find out what is going out. He did not want to yell this on the street but he suspects that somebody is stealing data from us", Megan dropped her voice after she had checked no one was near them.

Adam growled inside his head. Of course Pritchard would not tell him about this. That man was unreasonable.

"I see. He should have at least notified me about the suspicions", he murmured.

"I know, Adam. I know and I told him so. But you know how he is", Megan said.

"Yes Megan. I know and feel sorry that I can't change it", the security chief muttered.

Megan reached out and patted his hand. "Try to cope. After the press conference is over we all have less pressure on us. I think nowadays our janitors are the only ones without burnout symptoms", she said and smiled encouragingly.

"Oh, and Adam, today I'm busy but tomorrow should be fine. I should be ready after seven", Megan offered. Adam thought she looked a bit nervous but did not question it. He trusted that she would tell him when she was ready.

"I have mingled too long. See you at home, Adam", Megan said and hurried away. The dark haired head of security noticed that he had been talking longer than he expected. Also, talking with Pritchard would need to wait for the future. He could not wish more that the press conference was over already.

A/N I hope you enjoyed first chapter of Harmony as much or more than I enjoyed writing it. The idea of this story popped up somewhere last Christmas/New Year and most of the story just wrote itself. I wish my original stories were as easy to write... Huge thanks to Flame Wolfe, who was crazy enough to accept my beta-request. I wouldn't be here publishing this now without you.

Also quick note: comlink is their time Bluetooth/ hands free but more sophisticated version. Augmentation is called infolink so please, don't confuse these two.

PSS. I was quite pacifistic with my play through, so my version of Adam is based to that a lot.