Give every man thy ear, but few thy Voice

"Shepard… Shepard… You have to listen to me. Shepard wake up, the station is under attack. Jane, can you hear me? You have to wake up!" A cool voice boomed dully around her barely coming into focus. "Commander Shepard! I'm sorry- I know this must be a lot to process. You're not fully healed, but I need you to get up now!" The voice was a little louder this time, it was a woman…

"Shepard!"

And she opened her eyes.

It's so bright. Too bright… Can't see anything… Can't feel… Where… Where am I?

Shepard felt a ringing in her ears, and her body felt foreign. Not right. Not real. Not hers. Not fully… She focused on her surroundings leaning up on one arm. She felt a cool ache all over her body. Shepard reached a hand up to her forehead, touching her eyebrow. Her scar was gone… What was happening.

"Shepard! We haven't got all day, I need you to get your armor and weapon. Hurry." The voice was clearer now, where was she from?

The ringing of the alarm was unbearable, but Shepard listened to the voice. She pulled herself off of the table and walked to a nearby cabinet. There was brand new N7 armor, a design she hadn't seen before. She quickly dressed, running a finger down the red and white stripes. Even though she hadn't been used to the weight of the new armor, she felt a little better once it was on. A little more like herself.

"Who are you? Where am I?" She questioned above the voice speaking above her.

"There will be a time for questions later, Shepard. But now I need you to get to the shuttle." The woman boomed over the loudspeaker.

"And the shuttle is where exactly?" She found herself asking.

She followed a series of instructions from the woman leading her towards the shuttle, and their escape. Shepard let her curiosity get the better of her though, stopping in any room she passed along the way. She had to find something out- where the hell was she? How long had she been there… The last thing she remembered was… no. That couldn't be right.

The first terminal she found played a vid of a woman, upon hearing the voice she placed it as the one leading her towards escape. The woman spoke of what they had done to Shepard… They had rebuilt her… She had cybernetic implants inside her now, and this little project hadn't been cheap. Whoever they were, they had spent a great deal of time and credits bringing her back. Over 4 billion to be exact. No wonder she felt so weird, she was partly synthetic now. She had machines in her body, keeping her alive… Regrowing her… Was she even human anymore? Was she even Shepard?

Knowing this made Shepard feel weird. She felt violated… disturbed. What had they really done to her? After a few more rooms Shepard lost contact with the woman. She continued walking forward following the destruction putting down mech after mech. It felt as though she somehow hadn't held a gun in years… but she knew that couldn't be true, could it? How long had she been gone… Hacking through another door she saw a young man ducking behind cover, shooting mechs across the way.

"Shepard?" He said taking a break from fighting, looking to her shock filling his face.

"You know me?" Shepard rushed to duck next to him.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were a work in progress?"

"I just woke up. You probably know more than I do." She said looking at him trying to remain calm.

"Man, things must be worse than I thought if Miranda has you running around… Sorry, Jacob Taylor. I can fill you in once we get to that shuttle." He nodded to her.

Miranda… That must be the woman's name.

"Look, I am tired of stumbling around not knowing what's going on. Please just give me something." Shepard asked, her face was strong but she was almost pleading.

"Fair enough… You and your ship were attacked. You were killed. Deader than dead can be when they brought you here. Our scientists spent the last 2 years putting you back together. You've been comatose or worse that whole time… Welcome back to your life, Commander Shepard." He leaned up putting out a few mechs. "Now I know, this is a lot. I'll tell you what, lets kill the last of these mechs and then I will play 20 questions with you, deal?" Jacob was trying to remain neutral and his voice was almost hopeful even.

She didn't like it, but she knew he had a point. They should wrap things up here first and then they could talk safely. Then should could figure this out. A few more dead mechs later and she could get some answers…

2 years… Garrus…

After they dealt with the remainder of the mechs he turned to her, extending a hand. She didn't want to take it, she didn't know this person. She couldn't trust him. Reluctantly she shook it. Even though she didn't know where she was, she recognized the yellow and black symbol that had been plastered on every wall and door. The one he wore on his suit. Where had she seen that before?

"Alright, I promised you I'd answer your questions, so what do you want to know?" Jacob asked placing his gun on his hip.

"The last thing I remember…" She stopped to think. "The Normandy… It blew up. Did anyone else make it?" She asked with fear in her voice.

"Just about everyone survived. A few service men down below and Navigator Presley were killed in the explosion though, Commander. But everyone else, including the non-Alliance crew made it out alive."

"Do you have any idea where any of them are now?" She found herself asking, she needed to find them. She needed to find Garrus.

"I don't know, Commander… It's been 2 years. They've moved on… They could be anywhere." He said trying not to disappoint her too much.

They've moved on… They could be anywhere.

He moved on. He could be anywhere…

"Was I really gone for 2 years?" She said lightly looking down, the thoughts were staring to overwhelm her.

"2 years and 12 days. I'm no doctor, but when I saw you- you were nothing but meat and tubes. Many scientists would have laughed at the idea and buried you, but Project Lazarus brought you back. It wasn't easy, it cost a lot of credits and the top scientists were using cutting edge technology." Jacob saw the worry and fear in Shepard's face and continued. "I don't know the details, but you're you. That was one thing they wanted to be sure of. You had to come back exactly as you were- the real Shepard." Jacob replied flatly.

Nothing but meat and tubes… Shepard couldn't shake that visual. But on the plus side she wasn't a clone. Well, probably.

Shepard had a lot more questions, but could tell that Jacob was getting annoyed. They had to get moving, so she bit her urge and complied. The two of them made their way through the facility and towards the shuttles; meeting up with a man named Wilson that also worked there. She recognized him from some of the vids she had seen, and noticed he had the tendency to be argumentative.

The second they reached the shuttle doors, Miranda shot him square in the face. Why? Well apparently he had been the one to hack the mechs. He was responsible for the facility going dark, and he had been the reason Shepard was awake early.

Miranda was tall, thin and wore a skintight white jumpsuit with black arms and legs. Not practical for battle, but she did look excellent in it. Shepard recognized the voice and face immediately as the woman she spoke to earlier, the woman from the vids. The woman who brought Shepard back to life… The real kicker of all of this though, was who spend the billions and billions of credits to bring her back from the dead.

Cerberus.

Shepard knew she recognized that symbol. It had been from a few random missions she picked up back on the Citadel a few months ago. No, a few years ago…

They had been an Alliance sanctioned black ops group, but eventually they went rogue. Cerberus was known around the galaxy as a pro-human terrorist group. She had seen the messed up experiments they were doing… She had seen the kinds of people Cerberus were… Now they basically owned her. Because of them she was alive and she knew whoever was in charge wasn't about to let their investment walk.

It was finally time to meet the man behind Cerberus. Or so she thought. Shepard was disappointed to learn though that he wasn't the type to meet face to face. Instead she was met with a hologram. The man that sat in front of her was not what she expected. He was middle aged and very handsome. His eyes were a bright mechanical blue- there was something uneasy about them, and she found herself reminded of Saren. She watched as he took long drags off a cigarette, noticing his voice held a slightly condescending tone.

"Commander Shepard." He said flicking his cigarette to the side.

"Illusive Man… I thought we'd be meeting face to face." She said crossing her arms leaning into a heel.

"A necessary precaution. Not unusual for people who know what you and I know." The Illusive man took a swig from his drink.

"You might be the reason I am still alive, but that doesn't mean I trust you. And that doesn't mean you know me." She stood tall, strong.

"You need to put your personal feelings aside, humanity is up against its greatest threat of its brief existence…" He took a drag and began again. "How are you feeling, Shepard?"

"You have to earn the right to ask me those kinds of questions." She was not amused.

"Cerberus isn't what you think it is, Shepard. We're on the same side, we just have different methods. The galaxy is at war. No one wants to admit it, but humanity is under attack. While you've been sleeping, entire human colonies have gone missing. We believe it's someone working for the Reapers, like Saren and the geth had… You've seen it yourself. You bested them all. One reason we chose you…"

"I'm going to need a lot more than words to believe any of that." She shook her head, arms still crossed.

"I would be disappointed if I could persuade you that easy… Go and see for yourself. I have a shuttle waiting to take you to Freedom's Progress. That was the last colony to go dark. Miranda and Jacob will accompany you." He lit a new cigarette.

"Am I volunteering for this, or am I being volunteered?" Shepard was getting annoyed.

"You always have a choice here, Shepard. If you don't find the evidence were both looking for, we can part ways. But first go. Find any clues you can… Who is abducting them? Are they connected to the Reapers? I may have brought you back. But you're the one who has to do something about this." He flicked his cigarette and disconnected.

Shepard stood in the empty room. This was the first time she had been alone and not under fire since she came back… How was any of this possible? Bringing someone back from the dead was the stuff from vids. Standing there she had flashes of the explosion. She remembered the look in Jokers eyes as she flew backwards as the pod doors closed. She could feel the air being sucked out of her body again. Raising a hand to her neck she inhaled sharply. Of all the ways to go, she had to suffocate in space. Typical. Shepard shook her head, releasing herself from thoughts of dying. Shepard thought about how strange that mission had been. They had been searching Alchera for days, with no sign of geth activity. It had been a trap… Whatever ship had attacked the Normandy had lured them there, she wondered if that attack had anything to do with what was happening to the human colonies? The Illusive Man did mention how immediately after her death, these abductions started…

Thinking about it was useless though, she had no information. But now, she could figure it out. Cerberus was terrible there was no denying that. But they brought her back.

She was alive. 2 years and a whole lot of cybernetics later… But she was alive.

She was Shepard. She had to be…