4. Operation—Compromised Candidate

Meet Sitara on the concrete bench as you watch Thruss’s opponent give an impassioned speech on the park lawn. Wrench arrives with some audio evidence that further proves the congressman is working with Blume and !Nvite. There’s more juicy information at Thruss’s penthouse apartment. You’re driving there with Wrench. Head to the ground alley about a block away and below the apartment tower.

While Wrench scouts the area, you’re here to tap into the camera network. This is easily achieved by climbing the two ladders and crossing the construction yard roof to the ctOS box, then physically hacking it. The meeting taking place at the penthouse with Dusan, Mary Catskill, and Thruss further cements this clown’s fate.

Uh-oh, Thruss’s building just went off the grid. Time to meet Wrench on the roof of the nearby apartment building. Take the crane platform up, and after a meeting of the minds, your next task is to reach the penthouse apartment and download evidence of the congressman’s part in rigging the election.

Uh-oh, Thruss’s building just went off the grid. Time to meet Wrench on the roof of the nearby apartment building. Take the crane platform up, and after a meeting of the minds, your next task is to reach the penthouse apartment and download evidence of the congressman’s part in rigging the election. Take the crane platform again, swinging it around to the lower apartment roof.

Jump off, jump across the large AC units to the construction elevator, and either:

• Climb left, over the porta-potty to the upper CCT near a boarded-up door. Unlock it, allowing you to call the construction elevator.

OR

• Head right, into the interior and locked gate. Produce the RC Jumper and drive it through the cylindrical pipe in the stack of construction materials, through an open gate, to a lower-level CCT. Unlock it remotely. This allows you to hack the gate doors. Run forward, climbing the pallets at the corridor’s end, up to the CCT near the boarded door. Unlock it, allowing you to call the construction elevator.

Either plan can be done by Marcus or the RC Jumper if you wish.

Call the elevator, step into it, and ride it to a crane platform below the penthouse. Activate the crane by unlocking another CCT, near the crane’s base. Carefully maneuver the crane platform (with you on it) up to the helipad roof of Thruss’s apartment and begin infiltration.

Infiltration Points You can only reach the penthouse by crane platform. But it’s where you drop from the platform that’s important: Helipad and North Stairs: This is the main place to start from. The metal stairs to the north lead down to an open deck with a dining area and glass windows you can shoot through with suppressed fire (these windows shatter without alerting anyone). You’re directly above the target here and have multiple choices when it comes to gathering the data. Note the balcony glass fence to the south, allowing you to see foes below. Hole up here if you need to. Poolside Deck: It isn’t necessary to visit this lower area unless you’re stalking foes for takedowns. There’s a vent close to the pool that allows an RC Jumper into the duct work under the apartment’s main floor, and doors lead north away from here, into the sunken living room and up to the objective. To the south, the guard with the access key resides near the tower staircase entrance. Tower Staircase: This provides quick access from the lower interior floor to the upper exterior deck, across from the bedroom. It requires the access key to open and isn’t necessary to utilize as part of an infiltration point, though sitting on the roof after reaching it via crane platform is a good defensive tactic. Southwest Terrace and Planters: Don’t overlook the double doors on this side of the building, leading from the interior hallway to the cacti planters and Wrench’s exit. You can hide below the windows by the AC unit while the download occurs, too.

POIs and Objective Points Access Key (Guard) One of the security guards (in the south area with the tree planters) carries an access key, which opens the doors to the glass tower staircase. This is completely optional, as you can avoid the staircase during infiltrations. Main Living Area and Data Container The main interior has numerous entrances and windows that can be smashed using melee or weapon strikes. It also has a conference table and a bookcase area, where the data container is located. There is duct work and vents under the living area, though it’s just as easy to use the RC Jumper to distract foes and move along the floor. Marcus or the RC Jumper can access the data container. Wrench’s Escape Point This is found at the west corner of the penthouse grounds. Head here as soon as the download is about to complete, and you have an easy exit strategy. Or, you can find your own way out.

Paths To Completion

So many choices. All of them entertaining. Here are some of the safest, most cunning, and most foolhardy to try:

Don’t Sweat the Technique

This plan allows you to remain on the crane without setting foot in the apartment until the download is complete. Hover over the northern edge of the helipad or the southern edge of the “tower” staircase (you’ll need the access key to open the door). Remain on the crane platform and release the RC Jumper. Drive it to the skylight in the roof’s northwest area (A.1), hack it, and jump down into the apartment below.

Watch the guard here. Trundle to the hackable door or either vent in the walls at floor level. Navigate through the duct work to the data container. One route is outside through the doors, southeast and a jump over the planter, to the vent at the base of the tower (A.2). Then through the ducts, out to one of the ducts under where the hard drives are being destroyed (A.3), and then across the main interior floor to the data container. Begin the hack, and switch back to Marcus. Remain on the crane platform until the download completes. Then drop off the platform, directly to the exit Wrench sets up for you. Cunning and easy!

Turn to Turn the Other Cheek

This route involves Marcus invading the apartment (the RC Jumper can take this route too) and negates any need for engaging foes, despite them looking for you. Marcus only uses the phone distract when necessary. From the helipad, head down the steps to the north, following the pavers to the covered outdoor dining area (B.1). Hack the double doors to your left (leading to the bedroom).

Enter the bedroom, making a sharp left turn to avoid both foes. Creep through the shower (B.2), make a sharp left, and head down the stairs to the sports car and main living area. Call the phone of the guard by the window, near the bookcases (and the one closest to you if he or she is likely to spot you). Pass between the sofa and the car (B.3), and around to the data container. Hack immediately. Don’t stop when moving through here or you’ll be spotted.

After hacking the data container, head toward the car, distracting the nearby guard if necessary. Hop the planter by the balloons and open the double doors to the left (B.4). Enter the hallway with the skylight, distracting the guard in there as soon as possible. Head to the left of the metal sculpture, through the double doors to the AC unit deck outside (B.5). Hide under the windows of the hallway you were just in until you’re ready to hop over the cacti and agave planters and leave.

Tackling the Weak

Need to take down every enemy before attempting the data hack? There are numerous ways to accomplish this, but strangulation using Path B is the most proficient. So, once you’ve subdued the guard on the high deck (dining area) and the two in the bedroom and reached the one at the car, head left around the bookcase to strangle the guard near the data container.

Now continue your takedowns. Assuming you’ve kept quiet (otherwise the guards may be away from the route you’re about to take), head into the sunken living room, out onto the pool balcony, and tackle the guard to the door’s right. Then move right, to the guard with the access key in the southern garden area (with the three large potted trees).

Head northwest, jumping over the planter wall to the AC unit deck, through the double doors on your right, into the hallway with the metal sculpture and the final enemy takedown. Now complete the download in peace.

Making Those Guards Shriek

A firefight? What a plan, though there’s four reinforcements on top of the eight guards you need to worry about. Here are some places to attempt to hole up for a while:

Break through the glass window by the upper north paver deck, at the bottom of the helipad stairs. Shoot up the main living area where the car is. Hold up here. You can prowl the dining room deck, blasting foes through the windows and retreating to the helipad, leaving bombs at the metal stairs.

Head to the edge of the roof over the dining room deck (same level as the helipad). Use the Zero Day Rifle to shoot the foe on the deck and the foe with the access key to the south, through the glass windows of the “tower.” Then lob bombs through the windows into the bedroom and living room downstairs as threats present themselves.

Take the crane platform and steer it to the southeast corner of the restricted area, by the swimming pool. Use the metal platform railing as cover, and shoot up the foes on this lower deck; then lob in proximity traps and bombs as foes attempt to reach you. Are matters taking a turn for the insane? Then raise the crane platform, out of harm’s way. This is dangerous but possible.

Blast the windows open at the north paver deck, but use the suppressed rifle and tag both foes near the large bookcase by the objective. Lay proximity traps around the conference table by the objective. Drop a bomb on the car, and launch it at the foes on the outside deck to the south. Hide at the conference table as the download begins, continuously throwing out bombs so no one ever gets to you.

There are vault transformers and junction boxes to aid you in your carnage.

Taking a Peek

How about another deranged plan? Maneuver the crane platform to the window adjacent to the bookshelf where the data container is, and shoot the foe before he shoots you. Step off the platform, into the apartment, and take up defensive positions right next to the objective.

Paths To Completion

TIME TO LEAVE!

Need to leave? There’s more than just Wrench’s zip line to choose from:

The Zip Line Is What You Seek

Reach the indicated area, and you automatically use your Thunderball as a hook, riding a zip line to the ground. Classic Wrench!

Hill Descent, So to Speak

Feel free to ignore Wrench’s exit and use the parked vehicle in the main living area, accelerating off the skyscraper. Do this:

• Drive at full speed, so you land on the lower structure. The car is destroyed, but you’re still alive! You can carefully descend the building to the ground and flee the area. Wrench isn’t happy you ignored his zip line, though.

OR

• Drive at very low speed, braking just as you topple over the edge. You’ll land on the lip of a low building or the ground, allowing you to reach the ground much more quickly. Again, Wrench is pissed, but he’ll get over it.

OR

• Reverse slightly, turn left, and drive between the planters and bookcase. Drop onto the building you just climbed up. With careful maneuvering, you can drop to the street below and still have the vehicle functional (that is, not on fire). Now drive it to the rendezvous point if you wish.

Crane Escape? That’s Pretty Weak

Or, you can summon the crane platform and leave the way you came, which is laborious but possible.