Prologue: Cerberus

Okay. Now that this has been rewritten, I hope it's a lot better. If you read the original, you're already familiar with a lot that happens, so don't be surprised. I did change some things, though. So be prepared for a bit of surprise.

"Answer me. Now."

"Fuck you."

He barely finished his sentence before a small baton slapped him in the gut and sent a jolt of electricity through his suit. Greg's breath was forced from his lungs and he doubled over from the pain.

"EMP assault. Systems impaired. Rerouting primary functions. Please wait." The Nanosuit's AI told him.

Great. He thought. Now I'm really fucked.

This had gone on for an hour now, at the least. He had woken up here after falling through that portal in space, and he had immediately been interrogated. He didn't know where his team was, he didn't know where he was. And he certainly didn't know why these people wanted to know so much. His bones felt like lead in his skin as he tried in vain to stand up and fight. Much more of this, he realized, and he would be dead from a synaptic overload.

"Are you going to tell me what I want to know?"

"Fuck," He gasped, "you."

"Fine by me."

A foot connected with his midsection and Greg felt multiple ribs crack and splinter.

"Operator damage detected. Beginning repairs." The suit's AI said.

"Lieutenant!" Someone new barked out. "Enough."

"Sir!"

"Leave. I can handle this."

"But, sir-?"

"Did I begin that sentence with 'If it pleases you, Your Highness'? No. Now leave. I can handle this."

"Yes, sir."

The clatter of boots on the ground told Greg that the new person was standing over him. Greg coughed and tasted coppery blood on his tongue.

"Well, you look pretty pathetic right now." The new person said.

"Tell me something," He said between coughs, "I don't know."

"This was all a test."

"Well, fuck." Greg said as he stood up. The man was about as tall as him.

"Funny, right? I never expected you to last this long. No one ever does."

"Why the test, then?"

"To see if you could hold up to the interrogation."

"And why was that?"

"The Illusive Man, my boss, has a… special interest… in your team. He wants you to work for us."

"And why the hell should I do that? I just got the shit beat out of me by one of your men."

"That was a test, and an extreme one at that. The Illusive Man demands the best from Cerberus operatives, but we'll treat you and your team well, especially with those suits of yours."

"You're not serious, though? Me? Join you? I don't even know anything about you people."

"It's not like you have much of a choice, is it? You don't know anything about where you are."

"Ah, shit. Yeah, you're right."

"Cerberus can give you a place here. We can give you a purpose. The only thing we ask for is loyalty."

"This all just sounds too good to be true."

"Everything I've told you so far is completely true."

Yeah, but what about what you're NOT telling me? Greg thought.

"Are you in or out?" The man asked.

Join a shady organization or run? He wondered. Probably get killed before I got much farther than I am now.

"I'm in."

"I was hoping you'd say that, considering your teammates already joined up. The Illusive Man is waiting for you. This way."

He led Greg out of the small room and into a long grey corridor dotted with doors along either wall. In front of them were two men with suits similar to Greg's.

"Hey, Major. You look like shit." One said.

"Shut up."

"What? You do."

"Shut. Up."

"I think you win." The other said with an elbow jab to the first. Greg sighed, smacked his forehead with his open palm and followed the Cerberus man.

"He tell you anything, Major?" One asked Greg over a comm channel.

"Not really, Shadow. We'll find out from the Illusive Man, I guess."

"The who?"

"The Illusive Man. Leader of Cerberus. I know, sounds suspicious, but we don't have much choice, now do we?"

"Guess not."

"He's waiting for you inside. Just step on the comm pad inside, it's already linked and ready." The Cerberus operative said when they reached a door at the end of the corridor.

The trio opened the door and entered a darkened room. The lights came on as they entered and the comm pad on the floor lit up as well. An orange and black insignia adorned the walls on either side of them.

"Well, that's nice." Shadow remarked, indicating to the insignia.

"Let's not keep the big boss man waiting." Greg stepped onto the comm pad beside his friends. A hum resounded in his ears as an orange beam ran up and down his body. A holographic image of a man sitting in a chair facing away from them appeared in front of them.

"Gentlemen." He began as he took a drag of his cigarette."Let me officially welcome you to Cerberus. Time is short, so I'll be brief."

An image appeared beside the Illusive Man, showing a planet. It was calm and serene, the vast oceans flanking the continents.

"This was Earth, two days ago. Readying for war."

"'For war'?" Greg asked.

Another image replaced the first. Earth was on fire, almost literally. Nearly every continent was burning, and giant squid-like ships were in orbit above the planet, with some entering the atmosphere and descending to the surface.

"This is Earth, just fifteen hours later. Those ships are called Reapers. They come in cycles, every fifty thousand years, to harvest all advanced life in the galaxy."

"Dear Lord…" Greg breathed. "Is there any way to stop them?"

"I have people working on that, and they've found a promising lead. I'm sending you to Mars. There's a data archive there from a long-dead civilization, wiped out by the Reapers. From what my agent there tells me, these Protheans came close to defeating the Reapers. They had plans to destroy them, but ran out of time. My agent will extract the data, but I need you three to keep her safe from any… unwanted visitors."

"What do you mean by 'unwanted visitors'?" Shadow asked.

"The Systems Alliance represents most of humanity. They control the Mars Archives, and hold a less than favorable view of Cerberus. They may send soldiers to investigate. Or as part of a retreat from the Reapers."

"Could these soldiers already be there?"

"It's a possibility, but I'm sure you can handle it. I'll provide you with a full briefing when you're en route."

"Then we'd better be on our way." Greg said.

"Operative Lucas has already prepared a shuttle for you. Your weapons are there, as are some from Cerberus' armory. Take what you need."

"Thank you."

"I appreciate the show of faith, Mr.…?" He trailed off in confusion.

"Just call me Nemesis. My friends here are Shadow and Deadshot. We're Spectre Squad."

"Then I wish you luck, Spectre."

The link was cut and the trio of Nanosoldiers filed out.

"Well, shit." Deadshot sighed. "And here I thought I was going to be able to take a nap after falling through a goddamn alien wormhole."

"Why do you always bitch at every possible moment?" Greg demanded. "I mean, this is ridiculous, dude. You bitch at everything. Just shut up and deal with it."

"Complaining is how I blow off stress. Jesus, do you have to be so uptight?"

"I'm not uptight. I'm just sick of you bitching about everything. How did you ever become a SEAL?"

"I didn't have as much stress back then."

"So there was a point in time when you were a decent soldier? I never knew." Shadow commented.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you're an asshole?"

"Did anyone ever tell you that you're a pathological complainer?" Greg retorted.

"Actually yes. And they're both right beside me."

"Well, now that that's out of the way, I think we can get on to business."

"Connection established." Greg's suit AI told him.

Data files streamed across his HUD. He now had access to the entire Cerberus intel network. His curiosity got the better of him and he decided to start digging. The first thing he searched for were the Ceph, but he got no mention. In fact, he found no mention of the Nanosuits either. As if they didn't exist. No Crynet, no CELL no…

Anything. Nothing that he remembered existed.

Shepard. He thought. What the hell is Shepard?! Where did that come from?

May as well take a look anyway.

A single file appeared. The image at the top was that of a red-haired woman. Her sharp, sky-blue eyes staring back at him as if studying him.

Shepard, Jane. Human. Female.

Commander, Alliance Navy.

Commander Shepard is a well-known and respected biotic Vanguard in the Alliance Navy. Born 2154 on Arcturus Station, Shepard soon learned how to live like a soldier, having to move from ship to ship as her parents were transferred.

While it is known that she had an older brother, he was reported missing four years after Jane's birth, and hasn't been seen since. She also had a much older brother named Garrett, but he was killed on Shanxi, during the First Contact War.

At the age of eighteen, Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy, following in the footsteps of her parents. She gained notoriety during the Skyllian Blitz of 2178, where on Elysium, she held off an invading force of slavers from the Terminus Systems until Alliance reinforcements arrived.

In 2183, Commander Shepard was the executive officer of the SSV Normandy when the crew went to Eden Prime to investigate a Prothean beacon that had been unearthed. This was where she discovered that a Citadel Council Spectre named Saren Arterius had gone rogue, and allied with the Geth to get the beacon. After proving Saren's rogue status, Commander Shepard became the first human Spectre and was tasked with hunting him down. She was given command of the Normandy, and uncovered Saren's true goal: the return of the Reapers, a sentient race of ships that would wipe out all life in the galaxy. Shepard stopped the rogue Spectre and destroyed his flagship, a Reaper called Sovereign, on the Citadel.

In the aftermath of the Battle of the Citadel, Commander Shepard was tasked with investigating reports of Geth activity in the Attican Traverse. During this investigation, the Normandy was attacked by an unknown ship, and destroyed. Commander Shepard was presumed dead.

A human splinter organization called Cerberus recovered Shepard's body, and over the course of two years, brought her back to life using cybernetic implants. They also rebuilt the Normandy and tasked Shepard with stopping the Collectors, who were under the control of the Reapers and had been harvesting human colonies for the last two years. Commander Shepard and her team ventured through the Omega-4 mass relay to the center of the galaxy, where the Collectors had built their base, and destroyed it, against the wishes of Cerberus.

After the assault on the Collector Base, Shepard turned the Normandy in to the Alliance and was detained for working with Cerberus. In the wake of the Reaper invasion, she has been reinstated and is now seeking the aid of the Citadel Council for help against the Reapers.

Damn… Greg thought. she's… familiar? No, no, no, no, that's not what I meant. She's… really familiar. What the hell?

He shook the thoughts and entered the shuttle behind his team. He grabbed his Marshall shotgun and Majestic-Six revolver, sifting through a crate of ammo beside them and grabbing three cylinders for his revolver and forty shells for the Marshall.

"Where'd they get these guns? They're fuckin' sweet." Shadow said as he grabbed a pistol from the rack in the back of the shuttle.

"Devon. Come on. A pistol?" Deadshot asked.

"Hey, it looks pretty badass."

"No, dude. This," Greg hefted a machine gun over his shoulder, "is badass."

"It's unwieldy as shit, dude."

"Says you. That's what I have Power Mode for."

"The recoil's gotta kill you." Deadshot commented as he grabbed a sniper rifle from the rack.

"Come on, Ian, that thing's just as bad." Devon said.

"Hey, I'm the guy who uses the long range stuff."

"Very true."

"All right, guys. Gear up, find ammo for these things, find some other equipment for the mission." Greg said.

"What're these red cylinders for?" Devon asked as he showed one to the others.

"Hey, it's ammo."

"That's kinda weird. Wait… where'd they get the regular ammo from, then?"

"Got me. But… wait a… oh, shit." Ian said.

"What?"

"The shuttle is flying itself."

"No shit?" Devon asked

"No shit. Look."

There was no one in the pilot seat, and yet the shuttle was flying.

"What. The. Hell?"

"Wasn't the Illusive Man going to brief us?" Ian asked.

"He was."

A window appeared on Greg's HUD, showing that a comm channel was being established.

"And here it is."

"Gentlemen. The Mars facility has been shut down. My agent is heading for the archives, but there's a ship heading for the facility, the SSV Normandy SR-2."

"Commander Shepard." Greg whispered.

"I figured you had accessed the network. Yes, Commander Shepard and her team are heading for Mars as well. You'll need to deal with them."

"Got it."

"I ask only one thing: leave Shepard alive, she may yet be of some use to Cerberus."

"Got it."

"Good luck, and do not underestimate them. They are extremely capable and deadly."

"We won't. Sir." Greg said.

The Illusive Man smirked at the corner of his mouth. If Greg hadn't had the enhancements of the Nanosuit, he never would have seen it just as the link cut.

"Alright, boys. We got a species to save." Greg said.

"Do you know anything about what we're up against?" Devon asked.

"I know that Commander Shepard is a biotic. Whatever that means."

"So nothing, really?" Ian said.

"Not a damn clue."

"Perfect. Feels like New York all over again."

"Which time? I was at both."

"Second ti- wait a damn minute. You were there both times?" Devon said.

"Yep."

"Damn. What about Lingshan?"

"I was there, too. Didn't have a suit, though."

"Shit, dude. That's freaking crazy. How are you not insane?"

"I have no idea. How long until we get to Mars?"

"About…" Devon walked into the cockpit and glanced at the monitors, "Eight hours."

"Good. At least I don't have to wait for a long time to be away from the condescension."

"Thought that was your job? Sir." Ian said.

"Screw off. I'm gonna find out what these 'biotics' are."

"You do that." Devon said as he grabbed his Mk.60 light machine gun and his predator bow.

Greg accessed the Cerberus intel network again and found the file on biotics.

Biotics is the ability of rare individuals to manipulate dark energy and create mass effect fields through the use of electrical impulses from the brain. Intense training and surgically implanted amplifiers are necessary for a biotic to produce mass effect fields powerful enough for practical use. The relative strength of biotic abilities varies greatly among species and with each individual.

There are three branches of biotics: Telekinesis uses mass-lowering fields to levitate or impel objects. Mass-raising kinetic fields are used to block or pin objects. Distortion uses rapidly shifting mass fields to shred objects.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me right now." Greg breathed as he kept reading.

Most organic species are capable of developing biotic abilities, though there are risks involved. Biotics are the result of in-utero exposure to element zero. This usually causes fatal cancers in the victim, but in rare cases it coalesces into nodules within the fetus' developing nervous system.

"Whoa. That's some kinda shit."

"What'd you find?" Ian asked.

"Lots. These biotics are like… even the Ceph didn't have this. It's telekinesis. They can lower or increase the mass of things, tear things apart so fast it's ridiculous. This… if I didn't know any better, I'd call it magic."

"Well, I guess we'll find out soon, won't we?"

"Yeah. I'll see about contacting this Cerberus agent, see what I can dig up. Dev, get some satellite images. Anything. Ian, see if you can get me some info on the Normandy and her crew. I want anything you can get me."

"On it."

"Got it, boss."

Greg let out the breath he had been holding as his thoughts ran wild. These people have fucking telekinetics! Magic! Can the suit even take that kind of abuse? It stood up to the Ceph and CELL, but they weren't using freaking magic on us. We have to try, I guess.

Devon found him some dated maps of the facility and Ian transmitted all Cerberus files related to the Normandy. Nothing on the crew, though, and Greg couldn't get a comm link to the Cerberus agent.

"Well, we're really going in blind, guys."

"We'll be at the LZ in five minutes." Devon reported.

"All right, Spectre. Let's go kick some ass."

Greg grabbed his Majestic and slapped a reflex sight that he got from his suit's mod pouch. He also put a reflex sight on his Marshall. For the machine gun, which he found to be called an M-76 Revenant, he extended the barrel and put in a few recoil dampners.

"We all good?" He asked as he folded up the Revenant and stuck it next to his Marshall.

"Good, sir." Devon reported.

"Clear." Ian said.

"Good. Shadow. Pop the hatch. We're gonna jump and save some time."

"Sir." Devon walked to the side door and hit the button to open the door. "Open, sir."

"We jump on three."

He looked out over the Red Planet. A massive cloud of dust was racing for the facility, but the more pressing concern was the shuttle that was landing about a kilo away.

"I think that's from the Normandy." Ian said, his voice synthetically filtered by his suit.

"Me too. Let's get down there. Three!"

Greg jumped out first, spreading his arms to reduce the speed of his fall. The wind rushed up to greet him and his comrades as they fell.

"Maximum Armor." The suit AI said as Greg's suit started to pulse blue.

It felt good to be back in action.

"Whoa. Commander?" James pointed to a shuttle that was flying about a kilometer ahead of them and a good half-kilo above the ground. It was white, but there was no clear way to tell who it belonged to.

"Is that… Cerberus?" Kaidan asked.

"Don't know. Anyone got a good scope?" Jane asked.

"No, Commander."

"I got nothing."

"Then we'll have to hope that they're not. But we have to find that data. Let's move, but be careful."

Jane had a bad feeling about that shuttle, but she kept it to herself as she led her team on.

Why didn't it land? She wondered. What kind of shuttle just flies by and leaves? Now I'm getting a really bad feeling about all of this.

Okay, so as you may have noticed, if you read the first iteration of the book, I made a few changes. But, it should be much better, I hope.

Drop the 'views, and I'll get started with the next chapter: First to Fight, Last to Leave.

-AG