Cerberus always seemed to me to be one of the most interesting parts of the game, and I couldn't resist making up my own Cerberus fic with my original characters. Constructive criticism, as always, would be appreciated.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OCs.

2169 AD

24 years ago

It was raining in the streets of London. Anna Kirk walked quickly home, sidestepping the puddles, ignoring the synthetics sweeping up garbage in the gutter.

Most of the roads in the area where she was staying were several centuries old, a fact that both pleased and annoyed her. After living around the smooth streets of New Glasgow, her feet couldn't cope with the cracked pavements and she kept falling on her face with embarrassing regularity; but London had a character that you couldn't find anywhere else. It had managed to keep much of its older architecture, surviving the frenzied rebuilding of the late 21st Century.

Still, it does mean a lot of threatening-looking alleyways -

Anna stopped. In the alley ahead of her, a man was waiting – looking straight at her.

She turned immediately – only to find herself looking up at two men in Alliance Military gear.

"Don't be afraid," said the first man from behind her. "We're Alliance. We're not going to hurt you.

Anna turned around and regarded him, trying not to betray her nervousness. "What do you want?"

The man flipped open what seemed like an old-style police ID. "Darryl Carter. I'm with Cerberus. You won't have heard of us. We're a covert section of the Alliance: that's all you need to know."

The name was strangely familiar. Anna couldn't put a finger on it, until she remembered the figure from Greek mythology. "Cerberus? The dog of the underworld?"

The man, Carter, smiled. "That's right. It's not as bad as it seems, though. We're making sure that the wrong people don't get into the underworld. We're protectors."

"Are you… are you Spectres?" There still weren't any human Spectres, but Anna thought it the most likely explanation.

"No, not Spectres. We're strictly Human business." Carter took a step closer; Anna had to stop herself backing away into the two soldiers behind her. "Tell me… ma'am. What would you do to protect Earth and the colonies?"

"I don't know," Anna said uneasily. She trusted the Alliance, but if these men were anything like the Spectres – well, she had heard stories about how far the Spectres would go to see a mission through. How much they'd sacrifice.

"Do you have any children?"

Anna's heart skipped a beat. "No, no children." He couldn't be talking about… no, how would he know that the fertility treatments weren't working? Unless he got my medical files somehow…

Carter's smile widened. He gestured to one of the soldiers. The man stepped forwards – and Anna saw a baby, fast asleep, surrounded by blankets.

"Take her," Carter prompted.

Anna's fingers trembled as she reached out. She touched the baby's face, just once. The little one's eyelids moved, but she stayed asleep.

Anna looked up at Carter, tears beginning to blur her vision. "I don't understand," she whispered.

Carter nodded. "Good. It's best if you keep it that way. All we ask in return, Anna Kirk, is that you give her the best upbringing you possibly can, and make sure she knows the circumstances of her adoption. Her natural curiosity should do the rest."

It was only later that Anna wondered about the meaning behind those words. At that moment, she only had eyes for the baby that the soldier had handed her.

After a few moments, she realised that the three men no longer tightly surrounded her. She looked up.

Carter and the other Cerberus agents were gone.