Chapter 1: Purgatory

(Shepard Is a Biotic, grew up as a spacer with both parents having served in the military before him, his LI through-out this series is Tali)

Purgatory: High Security Prison Ship

Shepard looked past the Prison guards, arms crossed, his eyebrows furrowing into a frown beneath the tempered visor of his N7 breather helmet. He was watching blue suns mercenaries, Turians specifically, not that it mattered to him what species they were. No, what bothered him was that they were beating a defenseless prisoner with no seeming end in sight. He had boarded the prison ship, Purgatory, in search of the dangerous biotic referred to only as "Jack". The information he now was largely supplied with, that had been so graciously provided by the Illusive man, was all he had to go on currently, for pretty much anything. "Being dead for two years certainly has not been a great use of my time," Shepard mused to himself as he stepped forwards to one of the guards, one of his gloved hands dangling ever closer to his custom Carnifex out of habit. "Can I help you? The Turian inquired flatly, making a point not to look at Shepard directly.

"There's no excuse for beating a prisoner who can't fight back." Shepard stated clearly, indicating the other guard in the cell with a nod of his head as he spoke, letting his posture and tone do the work for him.

"This is a massage compared to what his victims went through" the helmeted Turian retorted, shifting his weight on his hips and adjusting his stance to indicate something more towards… aggressive. Shepard considered his response for a moment, letting his own honor guide him as he replied, "This degrades you as much as him." Shepard let his words sink in, turning his head to meet the Guards gaze. "We have orders," The guard replied again flatly as if to seemingly disregard he was even responsible for his own actions.

"So, you're not important enough to make your own decisions?" Shepard replied quickly, hoping to change his mind by playing more into the thoughts of the Turian himself as opposed to just the conversation they were having. After a few moments, the guard looked at him and then back at the cell "I admit… I sometimes get tired of this. Does it really get us anything useful?" Shepard nodded, then added "Stop this, for your own sake," The Turian nodded at him with a seeming respect then looked over at the other guard tentatively, nodding his way. "Yeah, you're right…. Call it off, at least for now." In a flush of feeling towards his small victory, Shepard turned on his heel, and headed down the corridor briskly, Miranda and Garrus hot on his heels, his armor plating clacking together quietly in the lengthy hallway.

As Commander John Shepard rounded the next corner containing the wing of cell blocks, drawing closer to the separate area of the prison Jack was held in, he stopped at a darkened cell, its interior lights broken, surrounded by particle shields. This specific cell had caught his attention, it was different from the rest, more secure, but there was something else. The figure inside was a tall man, donned in the typical red prisoners garb, his broad shoulders looking out of place in a tiny prison cell. He had a plethora of spiky, jet black hair, thick eyebrows that seemed furrowed into a permanent frown, a strong jawline and hardened features, all topped off by a few scars. He looks like he hasn't slept in years. Shepard thought to himself, his bright blue eyes examining the man before him in a very studious and pensive manner.

"What are you looking at?" The man asked, his voice low and threatening, a green biotic glow surrounding him momentarily as he stressed the word You, the veins in his neck only accentuating the harshness behind it.

"I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy, and you are?" Shepard replied, avoiding the initial question as he was admittedly wondering why this man seemed soldier material to him. Shepard had curiosity eating away at him to figure out if he knew this prisoner from somewhere.

"I'm called Enigma. But she could probably tell you that," He shot angrily, looking over at Miranda, it became more apparent to Shepard that he had seen the Cerberus emblem displayed openly on her outfit. Miranda shook her head slightly and threw up her hands in a display of innocence,

"I had nothing to do with the branch of Cerberus responsible for…all that happened to you," She said defensively, looking across to Shepard, half-expecting him to ask her what she knew. When Shepard looked across to her from his place next to Garrus, the Turian friend of his who was also now looking at her with curiosity, his mandibles flaring slightly into the Turian equivalent of a could tell he was considering calling her out in one of his sarcastic ruses for scapegoating or something as equally embarrassing. Don't even think about it, Vakarian. She mentally shot at him.

"Miranda?" Shepard asked impatiently crossing his arms and leaning back, his weight shifting to his right leg as it always did when he was waiting for a response. Before she could answer however, Enigma took a step towards the cell door, his face and upper body emerging more clearly in the light cast from the hallway. His ankles were omni-cuffed to the floor, Shepard noticed.

"Cerberus threw me in here, after I destroyed one of their precious little bases." He spat indignantly towards Miranda, glaring at her with a hatred of the likes of which Shepard had never seen before.

"They pay to keep me here, far away from their precious labs and equipment, and with good reason. They know they can't kill me. I'm too valuable to them, and they know how fucked they would be if I got out." Enigma sneered, wondering not only how the Great Commander Shepard was alive, but, if he was who he said he was, why he would even bother talking to a prisoner? or be on a prison ship for that matter? These were all questions swimming around in Enigma's head as he looked out at the 3 sets of eyes all focused on him.

"We'll be back later, I have some more questions for you, but right now, we came here to see Jack." Shepard looked over Enigma once more before motioning to Garrus and walking down the corridor the warden had indicated to them when they arrived, Miranda following behind closely.

"Good luck with that. I've heard she's a bitch." Enigma said through his teeth, silently cursing Cerberus again for his current situation. But What is Shepard even doing with an organization like that? The ANN painted him up as an honorable hero for fucks sake. He mused, sitting back down, his weight shifting against his back on the wall as he slid heavily to the floor.