Shepard awakens four hours later. There are considerably fewer machines in the room and her IV is gone. She stretches. Her whole body cracks as it remembers how to move and she climbs out of the bed, tentatively placing one foot then the other on the cold ceramic floor. There's a chair in the corner and Shepard's eyes quickly fall on the neatly folded uniform resting atop it. With confident albeit somewhat shaky steps, Shepard makes it to the chair, taking the clothes and a note in her hands.
"What's this," she muses.
Meet me in my office when you're up. Down the hall, third room on the right. – HG
"HG? Helena?" Shepard shrugs and lets her hospital gown drop to the floor, donning the fresh Cerberus duds happily.
The more she walked the sturdier her legs became, her gait quickly changing from cautious slow steps to her infamous cocky swagger. Arriving at Helena's door Shepard paused, taking stock of the woman in front of her. She stood at a window, looking out over the charred remains of London. She was lost for a moment, Helena, her eyes filled with so many memories as she watched Soldiers and civilians alike digging through yet another layer of rubble.
"Hey, Doc."
Commander Shepard took a step into the office, feeling as if watching any longer would be an invasion of privacy. Startled from her thoughts Helena turned.
"Good to see you up, Commander." She smiled, a genuine attempt yet not entirely believable. "Although I'm not actually a Doctor."
"That so…" Shepard leaned back against the wall, arms folding across her chest.
"Well technically I have a Doctorate, but not in Medicine. I'm a scientist… re-did your cybernetics." She walks around and sits on the edge of her desk, mimicking Shepard by folding her own arms across her chest.
"So… Helena," Shepard begins, her voice infused with that classic Shepard charm. "What's the G stand for?"
Helena dons a sly smile; two can play this game. "That is privileged information Commander."
"Even for the savior of the galaxy?"
"Even so, I'm afraid. You may call me HG though, if you like. Most do."
It's a rarity, coming across someone immune to Shepard's wiles, but it's refreshing as well. She tilts her head as she takes in more of HG, further intrigued when she notices the locket around the scientist's neck, her fingers running over it in a practiced rhythm. "How did you end up with Cerberus?"
It's generic, a question she doesn't need to ask, and yet it's the one that comes to her lips. She should be asking if she can leave, when she can start looking for her crew, if anyone other than Helena knew who she was, that she was alive… but she asked about HG instead.
"That depends on which time."
"The first time."
"I was young," she began, her eyes focused on the floor as she slipped into her memories. "I'd just graduated Cambridge and was approached by a recruiter. It was a chance to see the stars, to travel the galaxy, so I took it."
"And now?"
"That is a much longer story, I'm afraid." There it was again, the pain, fresh in Helena's eyes. She shuddered, her eyes falling closed as her fingers gripped tighter around the locket.
"I have time."
And she did. For all she knew the world had mourned her death months ago, committing her to memory as a fallen hero and nothing more. No one was waiting for her. As far as she knew the only one who'd paid her any mind was the one standing in front of her right now and she was equally alone.
"And why do you want to know?" Helena's voice was guarded, her defenses up.
Commander Shepard should have been all business, asking about getting discharged, and finding her people. Instead, she'd asked about her. Asked her to dig up memories that she struggled daily to suppress. It wasn't fair to be asked to reveal so much, but she found herself willing. There was something in Shepard's eyes that mirrored her own and letting out a deep breath, she embraced it.
"You're in a lot of pain."
"As are you."
They hold each other's gaze for a moment, each trying to find the source of the other's pain. Helena knows some of Shepard's pain. She knows of Mindoir and the slavers, of the Thresher Maw and Akuze, how she was forced to leave one of her own, Kaiden Alenko, to die on Virmire. Commander Shepard had lost more people than anyone, any group of people combined, ever should. But Helena had had her share of loss too and in that moment, in that room, for the first time in three months she wasn't completely, devastatingly alone. So she shared.
She told Shepard of her early days with Cerberus, of the intrigue and magic of it all. She told her of her happiness, of the days spent creating life saving technology, and of the birth of her daughter and the wondrous first few years of her life. Shepard saw the light in HG's eyes, the spark, the pure joy these memories brought her. She watched as carefully as she listened and as soon as she heard the name Ferris Fields her heart sank.
The light left Helena's eyes instantly, replaced by a cold emptiness Shepard had seen far too many times reflected back at her in the mirror. Helena had been off-planet finalizing a prototype at a Cerberus lab when the collectors hit. They took everyone. They took her daughter. Her Christina. There was nothing she could have done. Shepard could only imagine the guilt Helena had put herself through in the last year and a half. She may have lost her family to slavers and many soldiers to formidable enemies, but she'd never lost a child and she couldn't even begin to imagine the strength it'd take to survive something so horrific. Helena's breath stuttered, her fingers clasped tightly around her locket, her knuckles white, and though Shepard noticed the wetness in her eyes she said nothing, simply nodding her subtle encouragement.
And she continued, revealing the darkest parts of her past in graphic detail while the savior of the galaxy stood in rapt attention. Just as she was sure she'd heard all Helena had to offer, Shepard noticed a softness returning to her eyes. Perhaps not all hope was lost.
Helena had just been arrested and imprisoned by Cerberus agents at a remote facility when it was raided. She'd been there 3 days and was sitting in her cell with a book when suddenly the guard stationed just outside was slammed into the ceiling before her eyes. What she saw next was a sight she'd never forget: From around the corner came a young woman in dark red Alliance armor, her curly hair bouncing in a ponytail behind her head. She moved quickly, glancing into every cell as she grew closer. The soldier's eyes fell on Helena and for a moment she feared for her life, that is, until the woman smiled.
She'd called for her partner, a handsome yet somewhat goofy fellow named Pete and together they'd broken Helena out of her cell and brought her to their base of operations, a large warehouse-like ship suspended in orbit somewhere in the Nubian Expanse. From there Helena found herself starting to heal. They'd needed her help tracking down a Cerberus device she'd worked on and in the process she found herself quite happy in their company. It was never entirely clear to the scientist what exactly their division was but she never truly felt the need to ask. They were a small rag tag family, all pulled from various fields and brought together to do their part towards keeping the galaxy safe. Shepard understood.
Helena told her of Steve, an alliance soldier with a knack for calling people's bullshit. She told her of Mrs. Frederic and Leena, Claudia and Artie, all of whom had special talents of there own and incredible personalities to boot. She talked of missions gone awry and the laughs and pain that sometimes followed. There was light in her eyes again; but, when the war with the reapers came, things changed. Pete returned to earth, doing his duty as a marine to help fight on the front lines. Steve had gone with him. Claudia went with her brother to work on the Crucible, and one by one the others took leave as well.
"I had nowhere to go," Helena offered, eyes forlorn. "No one to go back to. I had no official record with the Alliance so I returned to Earth and volunteered here in London."
"What about the woman who saved you?"
"Pardon?"
"The woman, the soldier who saved you. Apart from your rescue you didn't mention her at all."
A sad smile plays at Helena's lips. "Myka."
It's all she says but it's all Shepard needs to hear.