Prologue

This is really just explaining what happened at the end of ME2 so in case you want to skip it Shepard destroys the Collector base then tells the Illusive Man to go f**k himself. Follows off Tali's romance plot. Enjoy!

Shepard's eye lids burst open gazing at the ceiling of a brightly illuminated room. Putting up with a migraine he panned his eyes across the green walls of the room trying to remember what happened before he fell asleep until his eyes met Chakwas's, who was sitting on her chair.

"Shepard," Chakwas stated in her professional tone while getting off her chair to approach him, "you're awake at last, how are you feeling?"

"Like crap," Shepard groaned bluntly resting his head in his hand, "what the hell happened to me?"

"You threw out too much biotic power in the collector base and exhausted yourself. I even had to open up the base of your skull to cool your implant down, it almost overheated."

"Explains the migraine, how's the team?"

"They're fine, although Tali seems to be sick, interestingly. You wouldn't know something about that would you?" Shepard's eyes widened with shock and paused for a moment, feeling guilty. Did he do this to her?

"She wasn't shot by a Collector?" Shepard asked stuttering on each word.

"No, and she will be fine. In any case it isn't something to be concerned about, I'm just wondering how she caught a bug is all, anyway the Illusive Man wants to speak with you once you've-" Shepard just jumped out of his bed to put on the formal clothing Kasumi got him for the heist and walked towards the medical bay door.

"Fully recovered," Chakwas finished with surprise in her face.

"Thank you for everything Doc, I'll talk to him now."

"Wait two weeks before you use the biotics or you might end up back here!" Chakwas called back in vain.

Shepard walked out and into the elevator, took it up to the CIC and into the comm room. The door had been blown off when the Normandy crashed on the Collector base and some debris blocked the entrance, which Shepard had to lift out of the way to get in. When Shepard stepped into the room his entire body was scanned by a yellow light and a hologram of the Illusive Man popped up with him smoking and drinking as usual.

"Shepard, you're making a habit of costing me more time and money than your worth," TIM called out furiously.

"Don't boss me around Illusive Man," Shepard called back "I did what I had to do, for my crew and for the galaxy, humanity included."

"Acquiring technology is what strengthens humans, not destroying it. Saving that base would've secured human dominance in the galaxy, against the reapers and beyond, and you blew it up Shepard. I should've realized you'd be too idealistic and choke on the hard decisions." TIM argued.

"Human dominance? Or just Cerberus? Shepard asked grimly. This question made TIM get up off his chair.

"Strength for Cerberus is strength for every human. Cerberus IS humanity," TIM replied proudly.

"I call your bullshit, I saw what you did to David Archer, you're a terrorist who inflicts pain on every species, even your own. I wouldn't give that amount of power to anyone, not the Alliance, not the Council, and definitely not you. You'd abuse its power and try to hurt every alien species out there. Humanity isn't any more important than any other species out there and I hope you realize that." Shepard could tell by the expression on the Illusive Man's face that he was getting very cross with him, as his frown and his eye-to-eye stare resembled that of the pope staring into the eyes of the Anti-Christ.

"You're a traitor to your own kind Shepard!" TIM shouted at him. He had just expressed emotion that Shepard never expected to see from him but he wasn't thrown off. Instead he started giving off a blue biotic aura and walked closer to TIM hologram appearing to be angrier than before.

"I've had enough of your bitching Mr. Illusive. I'm warning you now, don't get in my way or after I'm through with the reapers you're next," Shepard threatened as he blasted the hologram projector with his biotics and walked off with a dreadnought sized grin on his face.