Mission 01: Marketplace

Overview

When Sam Fisher doesn't want to be found, you don't find him. Not unless your name is Anna "Grim" Grimsdottir, one of the smartest intelligence agents at Third Echelon.

Using state-of-the-art eye-in-the-sky technology and a good ol' fashioned hunch, Grim tracked Fisher down in Valletta, the capital of Malta.

Apparently, Fisher had picked up a whisper that somebody in the Mediterranean metropolis knew his daughter's death wasn't really an accident.

It was an assassination designed to cause maximum damage to Fisher.

Grim has a waiter deliver a mobile phone and earpiece to Fisher as he observes the downtown Valletta scene from a sidewalk cafe.

Fisher takes the earpiece and listens to the voice on the other end. He is not amused to hear Grim - he should be harder to find than this.

But Grim tells Fisher that she's not the only person who knows his whereabouts. Armed men are en route to the cafe.

Grim says she will guide him out of the cafe and through the nearby marketplace. They can talk more about why she found him later.

For right now, Fisher just needs to get out of that chair and start moving before a bloodbath occurs in a civilian area.

Strategy

Do not hesitate to follow Grim's directions. She will be your inner ear guide for this mission, assisting you with outmaneuvering the thugs swarming on your current position.

This is a short mission, but there are plenty of opportunities to end up in the morgue. If you keep your trigger finger frosty and stick to the shadows, you'll soon have vital information about your daughter's "accidental" death.

Street Bazaar

Push through the crowd of panicked civilians rushing out of the booths in the alley behind the cafe.

You must enter the alley and take out the armed men who spooked the crowd. Of course, walking up to them with a gun outstretched is not an option - nor is it the Third Echelon way.

Grim tells you how to advance from cover to cover up the alley, quickly darting from one position to the next. Taking cover is critical for survival. You are not bulletproof.

Advance along the cover opportunities until you see the first two armed thugs.

Grim does you a favor by hacking into the city's power grid and causing a surge. Transformers blow, sending a curtain of sparks into the alley.

You now have the benefit of darkness, which is as lethal as the gun in your hand. However, the sudden flash of sparks sends your mind careening into a memory of Sarah's childhood.

You remember one night, when Sarah was just a little girl, she called out to you from her room. Sarah was afraid of the dark.

You entered her room, turned on the lights, and calmed her down by explaining that the dark isn't as scary as she thought.

After all, in the dark, you can see things moving around the shadows that you cannot when standing in the light.

You also told Sarah about how the dark can give you an advantage over whatever is scaring you. For example, if a monster were standing under Sarah's mobile, you could sneakily drop it on the monster's head.

Sarah was so pleased with your assurances. But then the sound of breaking glass in another room of the house shattered the spell. Sarah was about to learn that monsters were real.

You flash back to the alley in Valletta. Memories of Sarah will have to wait. The armed men are initially surprised by the sudden darkness.

But that's your element. You can see the thugs but they do not see you while you are still hiding behind cover.

Lean out from the cover and take aim at the men. Go for clean-kill headshots. A single bullet to the brain will take these guys down.

But as you shoot, stay hidden. A third gun joins the pair just as they crumple to the ground. Give him the hard goodbye of a bullet, too.

Putting a bullet into those thugs flashes you back to that old memory of Sarah. After telling her to stay in her room, you went to investigate the noise.

Burglars had entered the house. They were disappointed with the potential haul, but one luridly said that perhaps they could still get a good score...when your wife came home.

Before you could attack, a third burglar jumped out of the shadows and lunged for you. He had no idea what hit him. You ripped the pistol out of his hand and carved his head like a canoe.

Instincts took over. The whole room slowed as you scoped out the remaining burglars and marked them for death.

Once you drew your sights across them, it was time for the execution. They deserved nothing less.

Just like the guy who tried to jump you, neither of these lowlifes saw you coming. Pop. Pop. One bullet apiece.

But that was also the night Sarah found out exactly what daddy was capable of when pushed. You tried to avert her eyes from the dead men, but it was too late.

She knew. And there was no taking that back.

Enough of that memory. You need to put it away for now. Grim can see more thugs filling the alley ahead of you. The gang leader is with them.

You can ask him why he and his men are hunting you as soon as you slice through the gang, one bullet at a time. The alley is still in shadows, so you have the advantage.

Try to keep it that way as long as you can. Remember that you always have the upper hand in the dark.

T he next thug you encounter has his back to you. You can shoot him, but it's much better to sneak up behind him and drop him with a hand-to-hand kill. Next, mark at least two of the next batch of thugs for execution.

Marking for Death

A little farther up the alley, you discover two more thugs. You must again use your Mark and Execute ability to take them both out. Follow the on-screen prompts.

As you slink up through the stalls, Grim tells you the gang leader's name is Gramkos. He is surrounded by his men in the intersection ahead.

Inch up to the table next to the intersection. One of the thugs will break from the pack to check the alley. Let him come to you.

When you get the cue that he is within range (the button assigned to hand-to-hand kills pops up), strike.

Take the thug's weapon, but instead of killing him right away, draw him close to use as a human shield. Now you can execute two of the thugs and not worry about incoming fire for a few seconds.

Execute the two closest gang members. While holding your shield, advance into the intersection and drop the rest of the crew. Headshots make for the quickest kills.

Gramkos breaks from the shootout and ducks into the Sema Bar. As the tip painted on the side of the building says, "Follow him."

Inside the bar, Gramkos locks himself in the men's room. Approach the door. It's locked. Smash through the door to send Gramkos reeling backward.

He's dazed but not out. He raises his gun, but he's too slow. You snatch his pistol and eject the clip, tossing it aside. No guns. This needs to be messy. It's time to interrogate Gramkos and find out why he and his thugs were trying to kill you.

Gramkos's Interrogation

Gramkos's interrogation starts out exactly as you might expect. Even though your hand is wrapped around his neck, Gramkos refuses to cooperate. Drag Gramkos around the bathroom between each question. You can mash his head into a urinal or a sink, and even toss him through the door to one of the stalls, freaking out a bar patron inside.

Each time you rough Gramkos up, his lips loosen. He was sent by Andriy Kobin to kill you. Who's Kobin? Besides being a gangster, gunrunner, and smuggler, Kobin was also behind the wheel of the car that killed Sarah.

One last memory jog for Gramkos gives you a lead on Kobin. He's holed up at the old museum in Valletta, on King George Street. It's his joint now.

You crush Gramkos's windpipe. His body crumples to the sticky floor. If you want any more answers, you must go to the museum and beat them out of Kobin.

Maybe he'll give them up easier than Gramkos. Hopefully, though, he won't.

Known Intel

Eluding police and the NSA after foiling the red mercury plot, Fisher dropped completely off the grid. How did Grim find Fisher all the way in Malta - and why now?

Surely it is for a reason other than just missing his gruff mug around the office. Fisher also now has a lead on who killed his daughter: Andriy Kobin.

However, there has to be a heavier client behind Kobin. Smugglers don't randomly take out the family members of Third Echelon agents.

Fisher needs to go to Kobin's converted museum and question him to find the next person up the ladder. After all, there is always a bigger fish.