She screamed for hours. It didn't stop, even after her throat was red raw, her eyes matching in colour from the tears that streamed down her face. Eventually no sound emerged, but it didn't make her stop shouting. If anything, she screamed more, hoping for her voice to return. It was all she had for company. Her fists bled as she pounded on the glass, wanting, no, demanding attention from those who didn't even bat an eyelid in her direction. They ignored her, letting her rot, alone, helpless inside her prison cell.

Subject Zero had no measurement of time. She did not know how long she had been there or even how old she was at this point. They would come for her multiple times a day. She would be beaten, prodded, cut, thrown, screamed at and tortured until she cried so hard that her eyes couldn't even see straight. All she saw was colours and rage as they pitted her against another, a battle to the death.

There were no off days. No time when peace reigned. Nothing to look forward to. No hope to hold onto. No hope.

Until one special day. The day that he appeared from above.

The day that he said everything would be okay.


"Jo-n. Ca- y-u her- - -ohn?"

Shepard's eyes opened tentatively as sound started to return to his eardrums. He blinked twice as he looked up at Garrus Vakarian staring down at him, the worry clear on his face.

"Spirits. You scared me, Shepard." Garrus held a hand down which Shepard grasped firmly. As he was pulled to his feet, he immediately felt the pain in his ribs. It felt like he'd been run over by a pack of fifty rabid varren.

Shepard took in a few deep breaths. They were still on the Purgatory, clearly he hadn't been out for long. Probably have those implants to thank for that.

Wait, where is- Shepard's heart caught in his throat as he saw the woman on the floor. Miranda was aiming her pistol squarely at her, the prisoner not moving a muscle. "Wait!"

Miranda snapped her head away from Jack. "Shepard. Are you okay?"

Shepard hobbled over to Miranda and the body. As he got closer, he could see that Jack was still breathing. She'd been knocked out, not put down permanently. "What happened?"

"Concusive blast knocked her cold." Miranda shook her head. "We need to get out of here. Leave her behind. She's clearly psychotic. I'll inform the Illusive Man she fell during our attempted escape."

"What happened with the two of you, Shepard?" Garrus asked. Shepard could see Miranda waiting for an answer. Her interest was immediately peaked from the Turians question. "It's as if you recognized each other?"

"I-" Shepard paused. If we go back to the Normandy, the eyes and ears will surround us. There'll be no answers, no privacy, no chance to understand or get answers without them know. Is the alternative worth it?

It has to be done. Damn the consequences. "Garrus. Do you trust me?"

"Of course, Shepard. Always." Garrus' answer was firm. Shepard couldn't ask for a more loyal friend.

Thank you. I need this. "Good." Shepard pulled out his pistol and aimed it squarely at Miranda Lawson.

Her eyes widened as she found herself under Shepard's target. "What the bloody hell are you doing, Shepard?"

"What I have to." He didn't remove his eyes from the operative. Shepard didn't want to shoot her, but he would if he had to. "Garrus. Contact Joker. Tell him to disengage and send Jacob across with the shuttle."

"I- yes, Shepard." Shepard could tell Garrus clearly had more than one question for him, but he was loyal enough to do what his friend had asked.

"Damn it, Vakarian!" Miranda gritted her teeth. "Shepard needs our help. Clearly, the mission has-"

"I appreciate what you've done for me, Miranda." Shepard spoke honestly as he interrupted her. "But I won't hesitate to shoot you if you don't quiet down. And for someone who knows me so well, you know that I'm telling you the truth."

"Message away, Shepard." A slight rock of the station told Shepard that Joker was following through on his request. "What's going on? Talk to me, John."

"I need to talk to Jack in private. That's not possible on the Normandy. Not with EDI listening. I'm going to take her and the shuttle."

"Ah, John, I.."

"Please, Garrus. I need this. Just like you needed Saleon. Give me this time."

Garrus nodded as he remembered what Shepard had done for him in hunting down Dr. Saleon. Everything he'd done for him in fact. "Very well, Shepard. What about her?"

Shepard's eyes still hadn't left the Cerberus operative. He could sense the cogs turning in her head, trying to figure out her next move. "I don't doubt that you'll try and track me, Miranda. I respectfully ask that you don't."

"You ask for respect, yet you hold me at gunpoint?" Miranda scoffed.

"That's true. Maybe I could have planned this better." Shepard saw the shuttle approaching out the corner of his eye. "I give you my word, I will return to the Normandy. This isn't me abandoning ship. I will see through our mission."

"And what do you want me to say to the Illusive Man? What shall I say that'll convince him not to pull the plug on this madness?"

"Tell him the truth. Tell him I've gone mad if that's what you believe. It's entirely up to you, Miranda. When I'm back, I'll talk to him myself if that's what's needed. Once I have answers, he can have them too."

Miranda felt like screaming. "Answers about what, Shepard! Make me understand why you're doing such a thing."

"Answers about Jack." He motioned to Jack. He felt another slight shudder as the shuttle connected with the prison ship. "And why I know her."

"You.. what?" The confusion was evident on Miranda's normally emotion free features.

Maybe I am going mad?

"Shuttle's here, Commander, I'm-" Jacob walked into view and suddenly stopped at the scene that he'd come across. "What is-"

"Over here please, Jacob. No sudden movements." Shepard watched as Jacob approached Miranda carefully. He was showing no signs of doing anything but what Shepard had asked for. But as both were biotics, Shepard had to be careful. "Please take Jack onto the shuttle, Garrus."

"Very well, Shepard." Garrus knelt down and carefully picked up the biotic. She was still out cold from his blast. He carried her out of sight.

"I know you don't understand what I'm doing, Miranda. I wish I had a real answer for you. But I need to do this, even if you'll never understand why." Garrus returned to the party after putting Jack on the shuttle. "I will be back. I swear." Shepard's voice turned cold. "I'm trusting you, even if right now, the feeling isn't mutual. But if anything happens to Garrus, Karin or Jeff while I'm gone, I'll kill you myself. Are we clear?"

Miranda's steely gaze met his own. "Crystal, Shepard."

"I'm sorry for putting you in this position, Garrus. When I'm back, I'll tell you everything I can."

Garrus simply nodded. "Do what you have to do, John. Don't worry about me."

Shepard hated to leave Garrus, to leave Chakwas and Joker with Cerberus. They'd be angry, confused, baffled at his decision. But he hoped, if anything, they'd trust that he'd return. Because if they didn't, Shepard might have made a critical error. "I'll be back soon." Shepard slowly backed away from the group. "I promise." He turned and jogged off the ship and onto the shuttle.

"Vakarian!" Miranda yelled. "You can't let him do this. Shepard's lost his bloody mind!"

"I don't think he has." Garrus shook his head. "Whatever his reasons, I know he's doing this for the right reason." The ship shook once more as the shuttle disengaged. "Even if I have no idea what they might be."

Jacob stared between them. "Can someone tell me what just happened?"

Miranda gritted her teeth. "I wish I knew." She contacted Joker, demanding that the Normandy not only come back around to pick them up, but to track the shuttle at once. She had to inform the Illusive Man. She couldn't let Shepard escape. Not after he'd seemingly forgot that the convict attacked him. What would she do without them there?


Jack's eyes started to flutter, the throbbing of her head bringing her around back to consciousness. The pain was nothing new, and in the grand schemes of things, was more a minor itch than anything else. She rubbed at her eyes as the scene around her started to reveal itself. She was on a shuttle. "The fuck am I?" She groaned.

"Welcome back." Jack glanced up to find the source of the voice. It was him. Cerberus' new toy of torment. "We're on a small shuttle, so I highly suggest-"

Jack moved for him in a flash, but this time, Shepard sensed the movement coming and blocked it as his biotics sprung to life. "This isn't the best place for this."

The woman spat out at him. "Fuck you. You think I'm afraid of dying? I'll tear this shuttle apart if it takes you with me."

Shepard held Jack at bay with his biotics. The prisoner seemed to be confused at why she hadn't overpowered him. Shepard had always been strong bioticly, but since his reconstruction, he'd been an absolute force of nature. Whatever tech Cerberus had put in him, as of yet, he hadn't been stopped by anything he'd come across.

"You're starting to realise that I can keep you here, like this, as long as I like." Shepard's words were stated as a matter of fact which made Jack scowl. "But I'd prefer it if we at least tried to have a conversation."

"I've got nothing to say to you."

"And why is that?" Make me understand.

Jack narrowed her eyes. "You're a new low, even by Cerberus standards."

"What do you mean?"

"Go fuck yourself."

Shepard let out a sigh. "Look. I've locked out the shuttle. We're drifting right now. You want to kill me, fine. But you're not going to get very far if there's a small part of you that still wants to get out of here alive."

"Yeah, right." Jack sneered. "I saw that ship. You say we're alone? Bullshit."

"It's true. Whether or not you believe me, that's up to you. You want to know how we got here? I just held a gun on the XO of my ship. I just took a shuttle, with us on board, and told them not to follow me. I don't believe they'd listen to that, so I disengaged our transponder signal. They're going to be mighty pissed with me right now, probably more so than you are."

"And why would you do that?"

"For answers. Answers about you, answers about me. You saw something you thought was real. I did the same when I saw you coming out of the cryo. So how about we drop the biotics and figure out what the fuck is going on?"

Jack stared at him, but surprisingly, she stopped her attack and sat back in the shuttle. Shepard wasn't going to drop his guard completely, but at least he knew what to expect. He too dropped his biotics. "So tell me, why am I a new low?"

The convict lipped her lips as she shot of a disinterested glance to anywhere but Shepard's face. "You know why."

"I really don't."

"Yeah? Well, fuck you then. You're a plaything, a test, a punishment. Created to fuck with me, just like always."

"Like always?" Shepard raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"Is this some type of psychology bullshit, or are you just a broken fucking record?" Jack spat out irritated by his line of questions.

"Do you have some sort of history with Cerberus?"

Jack rolled her eyes. "Are you fucking kidding me with this shit?"

"Alright, alright." Shepard held up a hand. "I take it you don't know who I am."

"I know who you are, puppet."

Shepard sighed. "I mean, really. My name is John Shepard. I'm a SPECTRE, formally of the systems Alliance. Just over two years ago, I helped repelled an attack by a rogue SPECTRE, the Geth and a force called Sovereign-"

"That was you? Shit. I heard." Jack shook her head. "Congratufuckinlations, I guess."

"You can hold the congrats. A month after the battle of the Citadel, my ship was attacked and destroyed. I died in that attack."

Jack scoffed. "Yeah, sure."

"It's true. Cerberus spent two years and a shitload of creds putting me back together. And here I am. I'm working with Cerberus to stop Collector attacks on Human colonies. But I'm not Cerberus and I have no idea about your history with them. You think I like being in bed with those bastards? I don't. I shut down my fair share of Cerberus projects two years ago. But I don't have a choice here. Someone needs to stop the Collectors, and the Alliance, the Council, they're damn sure not stepping up to stop them."

"And what makes you think that Cerberus aren't controlling you, controlling everything you do, eh?" Jack shook her head. "It's right up their alley."

"Well I just held a gun on them and left them hanging, so if there's some sort of recall switch in my head, it's not working."

Jack gazed at him. "Hell of a story. Let's say I believe some of it. Sounds way too out there to be made up on the spot."

"True one at that. So how about we cut the bullshit?" Shepard rubbed his hands together. "This is going to sound crazy, well it would have done, until you mentioned that scar."

"Don't." Jack's voice was full of danger as it lowed in tone. "Don't you talk about him."

"It was here." Shepard rubbed his hand just above his eye where the scar used to be. "Now it's not. Not since they rebuilt me. It's the only thing I'm missing."

Jack followed his hand as it traced along his forehead. She remembered it vividly. Shepard's motion was exact. She shook her head. "No."

"I see darkness in my dreams. I see pain. I see you." Shepard stared at the floor. "I feel it. I've felt it for as long as I can remember. Since I couldn't remember."

"You're not him." Jack's voice was quiet. It was as if she was trying to convince herself. "You can't be him."

Shepard's heart began to beat faster. Here goes nothing. "Why do I dream about you, Jack?"

Jack's biotics flared to life. Shepard caught them just in time, blocking the attack. "You're not him! I killed him!" Her eyes filled with rage. "This game ends! Kill me, you cocksucker! Be done with it!"

She screamed constantly. She doesn't know. We can't see her. Not from the other side. The vents allow me access. I crawl. It's a tight fit. I need to see her. For her to know. I don't hate you, Subject Zero. Her fists are bleeding. I need her to know.

Shepard blinked as he was brought back to the present, the visions in his head fading. He was on his back, Jack on top of him with her hands around his throat. She was squeezing the life out of him.

I need her to know.

"It's- going - to - be okay," Shepard managed to get out his words as Jack held her hands around his throat. "It's- going - to - be- fine. I- promise." Shepard felt himself fade before Jack pulled away, scurrying to the other side of the shuttle. Shepard coughed as he felt the release of pressure, his eyes watering as he did so.

It's going to be okay. It's going to be fine. I promise.

She looks up at me. Her crying stops. The screaming ends. She thinks she's seeing things. That I'm not real. That she's going mad. I hold up a hand. I'm real. You're real. We're here, together.

You're not alone.

"How do.." Jack shook her head. The biotic was lost. "Why did you say that?"

Shepard rubbed his throat as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. "I said it." He swallowed. It was difficult. "To you." In hell.