Prologue
In this Galaxy, in this Universe there are things far older, wiser, and fearsome than the Reapers. In their quest against organic life, the Reapers forgot their own vulnerabilities.
The crucible was the product of memetic intelligence, the crowning achievement of an idea seeded into sentient minds over a million years ago. An idea brought the Reapers down.
In the space between spaces, in the spaces beyond the reach of Mass Relays, Mass Effect drives, and Reapers there are things that things, things that plot, things that remember, things that didn't so easily forget.
The Reapers became slaves to their programming, limited by their architecture, limited by their way of life. They became creatures of instinct, creatures of habit. They culled the galaxy, feeding upon and assimilating primitive creatures who kept on falling for the same traps developed a million years ago. The Reapers got more diverse but stopped evolving, for they absorbed creatures who never progressed beyond a certain stage of technological or scientific development. If these creatures would have been allowed to go beyond the prescribed limits of those that preyed on them, the Reapers would fear their own demise at the hands of their game.
In the end, the Reapers were effectively destroyed by disembodied ideas and echos of a distant time. All they had become was undone and their bodies found a new master, an ear that had the sense to listen to stories from distant stars, to heed the warnings of a star gazer.
Thirty years after man found he was not alone, just as it integrated into the galactic community, it stood on the verge of destruction. Two human men waged war for the future for the galaxy. An evil trick would be played on the champion of the sentient creatures and a villain would win control of the rampaging plague that would swallow them all.
"I found one, I think he's still alive," yelled the corporal at the top of his lungs.
London was in flames. A somewhat charred body lay unconscious amidst rubble and corpses. A concentrated beam of energy had disintegrated a marine, detonated the Hydra missile launcher he was carrying while superheating the air around him and turning concrete into plasma.
Caught in the resulting explosion was Commander Shepard. His shields managed to absorb much of explosion but they eventually failed and the commander was launched dozens of meters away with much of his armor destroyed. Luckily, the armor had prevented an instantaneous death.
If Shepard would have woken up, his enhancements would have allowed him to stand and even fight... for a while. His reinforced skeleton had held up to the blunt trauma of being hurled into the air and landing on hard concrete and metal. His innards were another story. He was skewered through the abdomen by rebar and organs had been ruptured as numerous lacerations to his skin and muscles streamed red with blood. Besides, he was pinned under a tank and would have been unable to bench press it off of himself.
"Commander Shepard...Commander Shepard, we need you awake," yelled a medic who was excited to see a survivor.
The rescue team frantically worked to save Shepard's life. Engineers had lifted the tank off of Shepard with aid of a maintenance mech.
James Vega and Garrus Vakarian were with Shepard during the charge on the elevator but were delayed by an earlier explosion and separated from the Commander. They had walked out unscathed but were forced to retreat into a nearby sewer after the particle beam that had taken down Shepard was swept in their direction by the enormous Reaper guarding the elevator.
They were on the scene looking for survivors and had informed the Normandy's crew and the rest of Shepard's ground team of his survival and status.
"What's going on?.. the catalyst... the catalyst..." mumbled Shepard. "The Reapers...Illusive Man... Anderson."
His heartbeat was irregular and he was showing anomalous brain activity.
"Liara...Synthesis no... EDI..no. Must ...only way. Go away."
"Something's wrong. He should be stable. Commander Shepard... wake up! Wake up," the riled medic complained. "Look at that... are those nanites? What the hell? They didn't show up on the scanner. Hold up... they're rupturing out of his skin."
"Major Coats, get Shepard's people over here. They've got to see this," yelled Specialist Gaul into his omni-tool.
"Commander Shepard is stable for now but we dare not move him. We have removed his armor, put him in a mass effect field, braced him in a body mold, and he's covered in a layer of medigel but right before we were about to move, just moments ago... Well, it's better that I show you."
Specialist Gaul played the vid for Coats, Garrus, and Vega.
"Are those Reaper cells," asked Coats. "Was he injected by a Reaper drone?"
"It's highly unlikely as the explosion Shepard was caught in took out much of the Reaper forces in the vicinity. Our troops pulled back shortly after and the Reapers as well. Shepard's life signs would have been too weak to catch the attention of retreating Reaper forces," explained Vega.
"Cerberus," exclaimed Garrus. "Looks like the Illusive Man used his trump card."
"I don't understand," interject Coats. "You're telling me Cerberus did this?"
Garrus replied, "It isn't common knowledge but Commander Shepard was brought back to life by Cerberus and rebuilt at the cellular level. They could have put whatever they wanted into him whenever they wanted. Contrary to constant reassurances that the Illusive Man had not implanted a control mechanism within Shepard, we always suspected he would have left himself a way to influence Shepard in the future. Although this isn't a control chip, it still did its job. No matter... Shepard needs to get to a medical facility and we need to look for the Reapers."
"As you can see much of this city is destroyed and much of Western Europe is in a shambles, as is the rest of Earth. Our best bet is one of the medical ships in orbit," informed Major Coats.
Shepard opened his eyes, the sight of stars above him soothed him. "Liara," he called out right before he passed out completely.
Shepard was stabilized and evacuated from the area. He would not awaken for a while.
- In the Hospital -
Four weeks had passed since London.
Shepard had mentioned Liara's name and then passed out. He lay unconscious since that moment. It was as if his mind had accepted death but his body lived on.
During a vivid dream he had met a stellar spirit and destroyed the Reapers. He had saved the galaxy. There was nothing left for him to do.
But reality was a different story.
The Reapers abruptly left. Many of their drones dropped dead, the rest returned to the Reapers before they all took off for parts unknown.
During Shepard's state of dormancy, his friends and comrades constantly checked on him inside the medical platform Panacea, a hollowed out asteroid towed into Earth orbit to treat casualties. Liara kept vigil day in and out while lending a hand to the staff. She had been tempted to meld her mind with his but thought it too risky to attempt. She instead, waited and hoped for Shepard to awaken.
Anderson was in the Sol system organizing reconstruction. Anderson's Mako had been taken out moments prior to the charge on the elevator. Before he could pull everyone out of the wreckage, the invasion was over. He had been doing his best to re-establish civilization during the past month but made time to visit Shepard occasionally.
Admiral Hackett had given Garrus command of the Normandy during Shepard's absence and the entire crew minus Liara was on the search for the Reapers. They had left two weeks ago and sent reports every 24 hours.
Right as the fourth week was ending, a man walked into Shepard's room. Liara had gone to rest. Shepard's quarters weren't even guarded. The man wore a hat and a vintage suit. Even though there was a sign that prohibited smoking, he lit a cigarette.
"Shepard... I know you can hear me."
As if a combination to a lock had just been punched into his mind, Shepard awoke. The man had injected him with a hyposyringe.
"It's been too long, son. You won't be able to move for a few minutes. You are familiar with this, aren't you? We're the only ones who have it," the man pointed to the hyposyringe. "The first time you were given this, it was used to wake you up from the reanimation process. It jumps starts your nervous system. It's gonna hurt like hell in a while, so I'll be brief."
Shepard was confused but he immediately recognized that voice. He locked on the artificially blue eyes and stared into them deeply with rage.
"I couldn't let everything up to chance or that you would come around. We won Shepard. I won."
"How the hell are you alive? Anderson..." mumbled Shepard as he squinted under the lights overhead.
"Oh that, let's just say I got to know you better," chuckled The Illusive Man. "I swore I didn't put a control chip in you but I don't remember denying that I put something else in instead. I left a part of my memories in you, to help you see the galaxy as I did. The memory implant was also an insurance policy in case the Reapers tried to indoctrinate you or you managed to reach the Catalyst before me. It kicked in just as you were knocked unconscious by the Reaper beam and they attempted to convert you. Your hallucination overwhelmed them. It stalled their intrusion countermeasures and it allowed me to cement my control over them. I indoctrinated them as they tried to indoctrinate you."
"You used me, again..." growled Shepard.
"Calm down. We won. Humanity won. I now control the largest fleet in space. I will rid this galaxy of corruption. I will bring order to the galaxy and humanity will reign supreme."
Shepard clenched his fist, strength was returning to his limbs.
"Whoa... looks like I don't have much time left," said the Illusive Man. "Ah...you didn't really think the little blue kid was real... right? I've come here to give you another chance. Every king needs an heir. . . You didn't really think I resurrected a complete stranger? I've always had something invested in you. You are my biological son. I've been keeping tabs on you since you were born. I couldn't let you die, that would have been my greatest failure. You also brought out the best in me. I pushed human science to the limit and cheated death itself to bring you back. I've conquered techno-organic demigods competing against you. Now that we've won, it's time for us to work together... to bring about an age the galaxy has never known. "
"No good will come of this. You need to destroy what remains of the Reapers. Let people decide the path our galaxy should take. It's not up to us to impose it."
"Think it over. You'll know where to find me very soon. You've been through a lot and the drugs are overwhelming your system. I'll be on my way, son."
Feeling returned to Shepard's legs and waist. He began to sit up as the Illusive Man walked out of the door. He rolled out of bed as to give to pursuit but could not. Shepard crawled into the corridor but found it empty. The Illusive Man was gone. Shepard liked the feeling of the cool metal floor and slumped face down on it... waiting for someone to come by. Shepard had been unconscious for weeks and the last time he was awake... he had undergone great trauma...believing he had perished in the fight against the Reapers along with Anderson... both making the ultimate sacrifice.
Shepard had awoken to discover he had been duped and played. He was no hero, no savior. The Illusive Man had won and the galaxy faced a grim future under tyranny.
A nurse found Shepard lying on the floor and he was promptly moved back onto his bed. Liara and Anderson were informed of his emergence from the coma.
"You're awake. I'm glad you've escaped death once again. You had us worried," said a cheerful Anderson.
Shepard was confused at the sight of his old friend. The hallucination had been so real. "Anderson, I thought you had died. I don't know what to say. I can't make heads or tails of what's going on."
"It's okay, son. Liara told me what you told her... we suspected something had occurred in your mind. When you were recovered the medics reported you were under some sort of deep sleep, brainwaves were abnormal. You were in sort of hallucinatory state while under some sort of induced coma. Your body was pretty messed up as well. Your wounds and burns healed quickly but it took you some time to wake up."
"I didn't simply wake up. The Illusive Man woke me up. He walked right in here, under all of your noses... to rub his victory in my face, to prove his power."
"Calm down, Shepard. We'll find him."
"What then? He's tamed the Reapers. He's going to take the galaxy piece by piece if we don't find a way to stop him."
"We know... he's already started. The refugees are calling him a savior. He's claimed Batarian space as his own and many are flocking to his side."
"I need to get out of here. I need to get back to the Normandy. If we don't stop his plans for galactic domination... we're all doomed. The Reaper fleet is a menace until it is completely destroyed. "
"They're on their way. Garrus and the rest of the crew will be here in a few hours for Liara and you. Have you regained most of your strength yet?"
"All I need is the legs to stand up to him," proclaimed a defiant Shepard.
