"Wake up Shepard." The female voice was soft and sounded far away; like trying to listen to someone while under water.
She tried to come up for air, but it was dark; she couldn't tell where she was.
"Shepard, you have to get up, this facility is under attack." The voice persisted, breaking through the silence that surrounded her.
Shepard managed to force her eyes open and the bright lights made her wince. She was so lethargic; she practically had to drag herself off of the table. The room was cold and unfamiliar. Her face hurt, particularly her cheeks. She reached up and discovered scares there. She had never had these scares before.
Before…..before what?
"-et the pistol and your armor out of the locker in front of you."
The woman was clearly Australian; her accent was thick, even over the intercom. Shepard put on her armor, as quick as physically possible, and grabbed the pistol. It clicked when she pulled the trigger.
"This pistol doesn't have a thermal clip, it's practically useless."
"Find a thermal clip nearby." How irritating, Shepard had never run into this problem before.
There wasn't enough time for her to search the room when the doors burst open and two mechs came marching toward her, raising their guns.
Shepard felt the biotic static build up around her, "To hell with thermal clips" she thought. She knocked the mechs back before either of them had fired a single shot. They were completely torn apart.
She rummaged around before finding a few in a pile of what appeared to be wall rubble. That was good enough for her. She loaded her gun before heading out of the room. To her left there was a flight of stairs and to her right a large window that looked into another operating room. She headed straight for the stairs without hesitation.
"Good Shepard, go up those stairs and then down the ramp. After that you'll need to go straight through two more rooms. Watch for more mechs."
Shepard was trying to make haste; she needed to know what was going on. It was all going by in a blur. She destroyed a couple of mechs and picked up a grenade launcher before she finally got to the third room. The doors were locked and there was no sign of anyone around.
"Alright Shepar-…..you'll-….door is loc-….and I c-…..n you hear me?"
There was nothing but static after that. Shepard sighed; she would have to do things the hard way. Taking a few steps back, Shepard aimed her pistol at the lock and shot it twice before the light flickered green and the doors slammed open. She ran through and hid behind a crate, pistol ready, her free hand glowing. There were five mechs a few feet away, two on her right and the other three trailing behind. She planned it out within a few seconds; biotic throw would knock the two into each other, a head shot to the third and fourth, and lift the last one into the roof. It was so natural to her; so quick and easy. A few seconds later she was climbing more stairs, the mechs in ruins behind her. She heard the cries of a lone scientist, however she did not stop for him, there was no time. Shepard was eager to get out of this death trap.
She opened a door and heard the static of biotics nearby. Shepard spotted a man fighting off more mechs. She ran toward the man and ducked down in cover. It was only a couple of seconds later that he joined her.
"Shepard! What the hell are you doing up?! Shit just got real if Miranda has you running around."
"You know, I don't really know who Miranda is, but if I had to guess, she's the Aussie feeding me instructions?"
He looked at her and smirked.
"Sorry Shepard, forgot you didn't know what the hell was going on. My names Jacob and I can help you get the hell out of here, but first we ought to take out these mechs." He looked over the railing just as four more mechs spotted them.
Jacob looked back down and winked at her before sending the first one smashing into the wall behind it. She peeked up and shot one in the arm and another in the head. He took out the surviving one while Shepard stood up and pulled the last one into the railing in front of her, breaking it in half.
"Nice. Ready to get off this station?" They both stood and walked over to the doors at the far end of the hallway.
Shepard nodded. Despite the way she was fighting off the mechs, she was incredibly fatigued.
"Ready when you are."
He led the way through the station, running into a few mechs here and there, but nothing the two of them couldn't handle. They finally reached the corridor that led to the dock, where Jacob said their ride was.
Something flashing in the room across the way caught Shepard's eye. She entered the room and noticed it coming from one of the computers set up next to a small window. The light grew brighter as she approached it. She pressed the computer's control button and a hologram popped up in front of her.
"The subject was found in worse condition than we had hoped. She suffered third degree burns from head to toe and almost every single bone in her body was shattered. Despite these conditions, our specialists have assured me that the body can still be salvaged. The Lazarus Project will continue as planned."
The hologram disappeared and the computer shut down. Jacob was leaning in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, staring intently at Shepard.
"You were in pretty bad shape when they brought you in."
She was silent for a minute. It all began to sink in. She remembered what her life was like before the attack on the Normandy. She remembered who she was before she was killed.
Everything hit her like a ton of bricks. She could see the desperation in Joker's eyes, feel the heat of the explosion behind her, hear him call out her name. She had died and yet somehow she was standing here, alive.
"I….I died…didn't I?" Shepard looked up at him, her eyes wide with realization.
"Yeah," He sighed and unfolded his arms, "yeah you did."
They were silent when they left the room. There was nothing either of them had to say to each other. He could see the tension in her shoulders as he followed close behind her.
Shepard didn't know what to feel. She didn't want to think about it, about anything. What she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep.
Right as they reached the doors, they slid open. She had dark shoulder length hair that slightly curled at the ends, light skin that was perfectly smooth and large piercing blue eyes that were looking directly at Shepard.
"Shepard, good to see you made it, I knew you would. I'm Miranda Lawson and I see you've already met Jacob." Jacob cleared his throat behind her.
"What happened, Miranda? One minute everything is fine and the next I have mechs coming at me from everywhere."
"Wilson was a traitor, an agent for the Shadow Broker, with orders to kill all of us. I caught him overloading the system, frying the whole damn thing. Well, let's just say you won't be meeting him Shepard."
"That's fine by me, but would you mind clearing up a few things first, before I trust you not to try and kill me either." Shepard turned to look at both of them.
Miranda sighed and Jacob leaned up against the wall.
"Alright Shepard," he started, "I want you to trust the both of us, we didn't bring you back just to kill you again."
"That would have been a waste of time and credits." Miranda interjected.
Jacob continued, "We work for a group called Cerberus. Our goals are to help promote Humanities progress."
"Cerberus," Shepard pinched the bridge of her nose, "What the hell does Cerberus want with me? I recall very plainly constantly fighting with your organization, the human terrorists who would stop at nothing to ensure humans ended up on top."
"Whatever Cerberus has done in the past has nothing to do with us, our jobs were merely to bring you here and make you walk and talk again."
"The exact reasons as to why Cerberus has brought you back are to be revealed to you by our boss, once we take you to a secure station not far from here." Miranda turned toward the shuttle.
Shepard didn't want to trust them, but she also didn't want to stay alone on this station, in the middle of nowhere. She looked at Jacob, who nodded at her.
"Alright, we'll go meet with your boss, but I hope he has the answers I'm looking for." They proceeded to the shuttle and boarded it.
Shepard stared out the window, looking at the void that had just recently taken her life. She would never look at it the same. Once she thought it so delicate and so beautiful, but now all she saw was the darkness that had swallowed her whole. Her stomach tightened and she clutched her eyes shut, there was nothing beautiful about the void anymore.
"How are you feeling?" Jacob asked her politely. They both were seated in front of her, watching Shepard carefully.
"Fine, I'm just a little tired." Miranda chuckled.
"Ironic isn't, you've been dead for over two years and you're tired." Shepard snapped open her eyes and leaned forward towards Miranda.
"What? I've been dead for two years?" Her voice was weak.
How could that be? She remembered everything as if it had been only a couple of days ago, not a couple of years ago.
"Good going Miranda." Jacob shook his head. She was trembling now, ever so slightly.
He frowned and looked over at Miranda, a worried look on his face.
"Well, now that you know how long you've been gone, we need to make sure your memory is intact." Shepard sat up.
"Do you remember your parents?"
"My father was Eugene Shepard and my mother's name was Marie. They both served in the Alliance, that's how they met. My father died when I was three, but my mother stayed in Alliance even after his death. I grew up on her ship, your typical navy brat. It seemed only natural that I enlisted when I turned eighteen."
Jacob smiled but Miranda didn't seem impressed.
"Not bad, but how about we try something more recent? Can you remember anything from the last mission you were on?"
Shepard inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. The images of Saren and the Geth flooded her memory. She saw the team that helped her take him down; Garrus, Liara, Tali, Wrex, and Kaidan.
His face flashed before her, his calm expression, the dark hair that was always neatly combed, those soft hazel eyes staring back at her, hiding secrets only she knew. She remembered him, remembered the way he would look at her, the way his hands felt on her skin, the heat from his lips as he pressed them to the base of her neck.
Shepard remembered Kaidan.
"Shepard?" She looked up at their eager eyes, both of them patiently awaiting her answer.
"I was after Saren; I stopped him and the Geth from releasing the Reapers."
"And who did you a point Councilor after you stopped Saren?"
"Captain Anderson. I told the Council that they needed someone who could see things from a different perspective."
"Very good, seems like everything's there." Jacob smiled at her.
"We really should do more physical tests before she meets with The Illusive Man."
"Come on Miranda, everything's there. And I watched her destroy those mechs effortlessly. There's no need for anymore tests."
"I hope he accepts our little field test as proof enough, or I'm blaming it all on you, Jacob."
The shuttle landed not shortly after. Shepard followed Miranda into a large area, where she began working at a computer.
"Just down those stairs there, Shepard, he's waiting for you."
Shepard proceeded down the flight of stairs and stepped into the pool of light in the center of the tiny room. Everything slowly became pixilated, and she could no longer see the plain white wall in front of her but the shadow of a man sitting in a chair, slowly smoking a cigarette.
"Shepard, so glad you could make it."