Author's Note: Gah, I hate meetings that run an hour over schedule. So, we meet Miranda, TIM, and the pilot. Hope everyone is enjoying the sequal, and yes, it will deviate from canon in a couple of missions ... maybe several. We'll see how long the villains want to hide in the shadows before taking center stage. As always, I love reviews!
Angela halted their band at the entrance to the shuttle bay. "Alright, so we move in here, grab a shuttle, and wait to see who else shows up."
"Nobody else is going to show," Wilson moaned in despair. Victor promptly slapped him upside the head.
"Then what?" She stared down Jacob, while Miguel and Pari shifted uneasily.
The darkest Taylor sighed heavily. "The idea was supposed to be we'd wake you up slowly, and let you know what's been going on in the galaxy. Given your previous history with Cerberus, no one figured you'd sign up with us, but we hoped you'd at least listen to us before leaving." Angela scowled at him, and he sighed again. "Shepard, I swear to you, even I don't know all the details. I haven't left this station in six months! I know where you can get answers, and if you don't like them, I will personally fly you to the Citadel and you can talk to Counselor Anderson yourself."
"Humanity's on the Council now?" Neville exclaimed. "Well now, that's a spot of luck, isn't it?"
"A damn sight better than our world," Miguel muttered.
Angela glanced at the other two Shepards, and they nodded. "Let's move out and get a shuttle, then." She grabbed Wilson by the collar as he tried to duck to the back of the group, using him as a shield as they stormed into the shuttle bay.
There were only a dozen mechs, hardly a challenge even with the shitty pistols she and Neville had picked up. She did make a point to swipe a couple of credit chits; while she wanted to trust the Taylors, she had plenty of bad memories of Cerberus facilities. "The shuttles are in through here," Wilson said, opening the door. He was stopped by three gunshots, fired in perfect syncracy. The three people then promptly went into a classic Mexican standoff, their guns pointed at the one on the right, with biotics for two and an omni-tool for the third pointed to the left.
"Lawson, put the weapons down," the three Taylors said.
"What is going on here," they said in unison, the effect broken as each one tried to say a different name. Three Taylors looked at three Shepards.
"I'm Angela Shepard. You must be Miranda," she pointed at the raven-haired woman. "So for you two, welcome to my universe. According to Jacob, we're one hundred percent Reaper free, but he's been unusually close-mouthed about what is threatening the galaxy this month." Slowly, and with icy dignity, Miranda lowered her gun, and the other two did likewise. "So, how about some introductions?"
"I'm Titus," the ginger-haired man said, his accent almost a match for Neville's. "So, how is it there's no Reapers here?"
Angela didn't answer, turning instead towards the blond, who's form-fitting outfit was just a palette swap from Miranda's. "Ophelia," she muttered. "And same question as him," she waved her fingers at the man in question.
"Just to clarify, you guys are also from the same universes as Neville and Victor?" The two Lawsons nodded. "Two for two," she said over her shoulder to Neville. "Wanna bet it turns into a pattern with the next group?"
"Five credits says no," Victor rumbled. "I hope we find someone from Havok's 'verse. He was fun."
"Alright, the short version. Right before I went down to Eden Prime, another Shepard showed up on board the Normandy. Then another three on the surface, and some more almost every place I went, until there were twenty-six of us. Some cosmic fluke that had them all popping in to my universe." She could remember the vision she had of the 'original' destruction, but that was info she wasn't about to share. "Being together, acting in unison, like the way all of you were talking, draws on the dark energy of the universe. Too much of it and we could warp the structure of reality until it shatters. We used it to kill the AI that controlled the Reapers."
"How can you be sure of that?" Titus asked calmly.
"I saw Nazara die, right before the base of the Citadel exploded and spaced me." She met his gaze unflinchingly. "So, since they're not here, I feel pretty damn sure." Angela turned on Miranda. "Now, let's get any other survivors and get the hell off this station. I've been promised answers."
She looked over at Jacob instead of responding directly. "You told them?"
Pari shook her head. "Didn't see much choice in the matter, actually. You think she'd take it better if we hauled her off to the Illusive Woman and then find out?"
"You mean Illusive Man," two Taylors and two Lawsons said. "Wait, seriously? Illusive Woman?" Miguel asked.
"To answer the original question," Miranda quickly interjected, "any survivors already got off. There's only one shuttle left, and it only fits nine people, counting the pilot."
"We could have had Wilson sit on the floor, if you hadn't shot him," Neville said blandly. "Why did you do that, anyway?"
"He was the one who activated the mechs," all three Lawsons said (except for Ophelia, who said she).
"It might have been nice to question him though," Neville sighed. "Can we leave here now?"
"Absolutely," Miranda said firmly, opening the door behind them and leading the way to the shuttle.
During the flight, as Miranda flew with the door open, they talked. "So, wait. You just lined up two dozen Shepards and shouted at this AI?" Miguel asked skeptically.
All three Shepards shrugged. "Yep. Did it to the Thorian, too, but it was easier. Sovereign succeeded in your worlds without them?" Angela pointed at the two male Sheps.
"Yeah, it did," Titus said grimly. "Alenko did her best, but when the geth started pouring through the Conduit, she was killed organizing the counter-offensive. Your alien friends were all with her."
"Pretty similar to our world, but it was closer," Ophelia said. "Alenko was killed on Virmire, but Williams rallied the aliens and C-Sec. Chased Saren up the tower, and disappeared when the rest of the Reapers showed up."
"Hold on," Neville said suddenly, leaning forward. "We were in her universe. When we killed that AI-child-thing, and the Citadel went kaboom, well, we obviously got thrown back to our own universes. So how did you find us?"
Miguel and Titus looked at each other, while Pari and Ophelia mirrored them. Jacob just looked interested. "You reappeared on the places you vanished," Miguel said after a moment.
"Or close to it, anyway," Ophelia said hurriedly.
"What does that mean?" Victor asked suspiciously.
The blond actually looked a little apprehensive. "You reappeared in orbit, already dead. Your transponder in your armor worked, so we managed to pick up your corpse before the Reapers got to it."
"Hold on," Angela said, "what about me, then? I didn't think my body would be lost."
"We had an agent in C-Sec swap your body for a Jane Doe of the right size," Miranda called from the pilot seat. "Then spent the next two years working out how the hell to bring you back to life."
"You buried some anonymous body in my place?" she shouted, outraged.
"Shepard, I mean Angela," Miranda tried placating her, "if you run someone's fingerprints, retinal scans, and DNA, and still can't come up with a match, then they're anonymous. And it beat letting her get recycled into the Citadel protein vats." Everyone's faces twitched in unspoken horror, even Titus, who so far had been doing an excellent manikin impression. "And now, we're here."
They remained silent as the shuttle docked, the landing bay clear of all personnel as they disembarked. Miranda and Jacob led the way to a room that looked like a cross between a spaceport boarding area and a business lobby, and headed immediately for two of the terminals there. "Huh," Pari said curiously, "the color scheme is all backwards."
"Really?" Miranda said, raising an eyebrow. "Bright yellow walls? I will not work somewhere the color of a banana."
"It was soothing," Ophelia countered, running a hand through her blond hair.
"Whatever," they both said, which caused Titus to snicker softly.
"Shepards? The Illusive Man is down the stairs around that corner. He's waiting to speak to you," Jacob said diplomatically. Angela almost wanted to ask why Miranda and Ophelia weren't getting along, but then thought briefly about Kohana's tirades and Jared's blatant (and apparently consummated – she wasn't ever going to ask for certainty) relationship with Flora, and decided that if she couldn't get along with all of her doubles, probably no one else could either. "Oh, and the fabricator unit there should be able to get you and Neville some clothes."
Angela immediately flushed bright red; the discussions on the shuttle had driven her state of dress completely from her mind. All three hurried over to the unit, but Victor let them go first, shrugging when the adept raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Armor is designed for undersuit. Without, it chafes," he explained quietly.
Once dressed, they headed down the stairs, stepping into a circle on the floor just barely large enough to fit all three of them. After a second, a ring of mostly orange holographic light rose up around them, and Angela stiffened slightly as they caught sight of the Illusive Man. That's him, the one who shattered the original Shepard's universe, she thought numbly. Glancing quickly at Neville and Victor, she determined they either had good poker faces, or didn't recognize him without being half-husked.
"Shepards," he said, gesturing with the cigarette in his hand. "This is slightly unexpected. Miranda updated me while you were en route. Having three Lawsons and three Taylors is an advantage, even though my hope was that resurrecting you would bring back all twenty-six Shepards."
"Sorry I can't oblige you," Angela snarked. "It's not under my conscious control."
"Be that as it may," TIM said smoothly, "I'm glad to see you, all three, are up and around. Has Taylor told you why I wanted you?" All three shook their heads in unison, causing the Cerberus leader to pause and stare at them. "Human colonies in the Terminus systems are vanishing. It started six months after you stopped Saren. At first, it was just small ones, outlying settlements. Lately, it's graduated up to entire planets. All of the buildings, the belongings, left behind and only the people vanished. No security footage is left behind, either."
"So why not let the Alliance or the Council handle it? Why does 'hey let's enslave the Rachni' Cerberus have to do it?" Neville asked.
"Those people are all in the Terminus to get away from the Alliance. Outside our borders, the Alliance has no jurisdiction anyway. The Council doesn't want to start a war by sending so much as one Spectre to investigate." He punctuated his scathing dismissals of the politicians with jabs of the glowing cigarette.
"That still doesn't say why I should consider helping you," Angela said after a moment.
"Shepard, you might disagree with my methods, but I have always wanted what's best for humanity. All I'm asking of you is to go to the most recent colony attacked, called Freedom's Progress. It was struck less than a day ago, and so far, I've been able to keep that news quiet, so the scavengers and pirates haven't descended yet. Look it over. Tell me what you see. Then you can have your pilot fly you to the Citadel."
"The Lawsons and Taylors will accompany us, no doubt," Victor added sarcastically, not waiting for the Illusive Man to nod. "Bolzhemoi."
"Don't worry, I think you'll like your pilot, and your ship," he said cryptically, and the hologram cut off.
"Grand, I wonder what kind of human-only nutcase they're going to stick us with," Neville said.
"I am offended at that," Joker's voice came down the stairs towards them. "You should know, I am an equal-opportunity bigot, Neville! I make fun of everybody." He paused expectantly, then looked around, his face falling. "Oh, this is just great, just fucking great. The Cerberus goon squad get their doubles, and I'm stuck as lonely old me."
"Joker, if there were three of you, you'd fight non-stop over who got to pilot the ship," Angela said, giving Moreau a careful hug.
"Yeah, but imagine the pranks we could pull!" He grinned, offering handshakes to the other two Shepards. "Besides, if you can duplicate the Cerberus goons, why not the new Normandy?"
"There's a new Normandy?" all three chorused. "Lead on, MacDuff!"
"Just so you know," Joker said, hobbling in the lead, "I'm not Scotty." Angela just swiped his ball cap.