I'm not leaving you either.
The moment Annie told Liara to leave she found herself regretting it as if a part of her knew it would be awhile before she could apologize. But she didn't have time to dwindle on those thoughts, Joker had to be evacuated before whatever this enemy was swung around for another attack.
Annie charged through the Normandy, forcing herself to ignore the exploding hull and burning flames of a place she had once called home. Grieving for the hunk of metal would be done once in safety.
"Come on Joker, we've got to get out of here!" The pilot put up as much of a fight as a man in his position could. Joker had been one of the few members of the crew that had stuck with Annie since day one. Since walking on the ship as XO to Admiral Anderson, Joker and Annie had been attached at the hip. They had familiar past issues that both of them chose to deal with by ignoring and replacing with heavy amounts of sarcasm. In the pilot's case it was the brittle bone disease that kept him isolated to the pilot's chair. Certainly the man was an excellent pilot - one of the best if not the best - but his fragile bones kept him from being able to take to the field or move that quickly, which made the pair's quick escape a little difficult.
She practically threw him into the escape pod and was sure she had fractured a bone or two of his but there was no time to complain. Unfortunately, before Annie could swing herself into the pod an explosion hurled her from her position. The world slowed and Joker watched helplessly as Annie drifted towards the eject button, barely able to brush her gloved fingers along it before another explosion tossed her casually into space.
And then the silence set in.
The explosions echoed in the distance as Annie attempted to survey her surroundings. She was alone, no ship, no crew, no form of contact. It was just Annie in this giant expanse of space. She'd never felt so alone.
Suddenly, the unfamiliar sound of escaping air alerted her to the worst. Annie reached back, feeling the pressure of the releasing oxygen from her mask. Minutes of life ebbed its way out of her suit as the gravity of the nearby planet finally took grip on her vulnerable body. Slow drifting turned into an accelerated fall, Annie's lungs screamed in pain for air. She couldn't tell if the burning in her lungs was from the lack of oxygen or the atmosphere burning up around her.
Her body grew slowly limp, blue eyes drooping as an odd sense of drunkenness took over. The burning no longer seemed to bother Annie and her thoughts turned to something familiar, something blue, as Liara's face appeared in her mind. It was angry, furious that Annie had put Liara's safety before her own, but oddly enough it was a thought that made the commander smile in the last moments of her life.
Or that's what she thought.
It felt like only a moment before she was gaining consciousness again due to the shouting from some overhead speaker. The voice was female, a curious accent in which Annie couldn't depict between Australian or New Zealand. Either way she was shouting at Annie to get up, that the facility was under attack and she needed to move. Facility? Where the hell was she? The last thing Annie remembered was the attack on the Normandy, saving Joker, the explosion…
Annie's eyes snapped open and she tried to sit up casually. Almost immediately her body refused, Annie's stomach screaming in pain and jaw feeling like someone had spent the evening punching it out of place. Her vision was blurry, white lights making dots appear as she stumbled from the table. The table? Glancing over her shoulder to see a surgery table, computers filled the room and machines sat idle. An uneasy feeling settled into her stomach.
"Shepard, you don't have time. Grab the armor and pistol on the table and get moving. I'll try to direct you to the transport stations, but you have to get moving." The alarm in her voice was familiar and Annie decided that more of her questions would be answered if she got to wherever this woman wanted her rather than standing here thinking.
She introduced herself as Miranda, though the exchange of names didn't make Annie feel any better. She seemed to know almost too much about Annie, or at least that's what it felt like. Like how she knew Annie would so eagerly jump to attention when it came to getting herself out alive. But again she had to tell herself that that wasn't important now, what was important was shooting her way through the threatening mechs.
Only, it was on her trip out that she discovered something disturbing.
Annie ran into another affiliate of the facility with more military training than science knowledge. He introduced himself as Jacob and made it very clear he was just the muscle of this place rather than the brains. But he did know something Annie didn't care to acknowledge.
"You spent two years on that table and so I guess someone wants you really dead this time." Two years. The words felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. Annie looked for some sort of tell in the man's face, hoping – praying – he was about to break into a smile and tell the commander he was joking. But he didn't. Instead his dark-skinned face remained hardened with a painful amount of pity in his eyes.
She had always hated when people pitied her. Then again it was a look she got often when people found out where she was from. The colony Mindoir was attacked by slavers almost fifteen years ago when Annie was ten years old. It was the first time humans had to deal with the troubles of colonies. And it was still a memory that rested firmly in her nightmares.
"Look…" she stated as he finished explaining more about this facility, "let's just get to the shuttle station. Miranda said she would meet me there," Annie really just needed time to think. She needed time to sort through the emotions that were spinning around in her head. Now, wasn't that time.
Eventually, though – and after several fire fights – Jacob and Annie made it to the shuttle station, Miranda waiting for them almost too casually. It was then that Annie discovered whom this facility belonged to: Cerberus. She had dealt with them before, though it wasn't anything more than cleaning up the messes they made. Cerberus never had Annie feel like it was a "bring someone back to life" sort of group. Then again, she supposed she hadn't looked much into Cerberus's dealing during her military time. She had always been focused on more important things to be frank.
COMMENTS: Hello again. After way too long I have finally finished this story! I will be re-loading every chapter to include my edits and so forth. Hope you enjoy!
