Chapter 1: Physicals
Dr. Madison Brooks. The doctor had introduced herself as if the name should have been important. Of course, Shepard had absolutely no idea whom this doctor was, and apart from Dr. Chakwas, she had never had a regular physician during any of her tours. Being a N7 operative meant she was often transferred from one vessel to another for whatever important mission had been drummed up for her. Serving aboard the Normandy had been the most regular tour of service she had been part of in years.
Right now though, Shepard could care less about this mousy looking brunette dressed in Alliance BDUs. Shepard just wanted the woman to hurry and finish the physical so she could be on her way. After everything that Shepard had been through during the past few months, sitting on a metal exam table in her underwear while being inspected by a doctor was aggravating to say the least. It certainly had not helped matters that her every movement since she had arrived at the facility had been scrutinized. That conversations would silence as she walked by, only to begin in hushed, hurried tones once they thought she was too far away to hear it. Words like traitor and terrorist that she knew were directed at her.
"So, Commander Shepard," Dr. Brooks voice was curt, abrupt, treading a fine line between professional and disrespect. "Your medical files show that the last physical you had dates back to over two years ago. At least by an Alliance doctor. That is correct?"
Shepard watched as Dr. Brooks tapped her fingers across a datapad in her hands, as if she were remarkably unfamiliar with the file. "Are you certain you have the proper credentials to be here?" The last thing Shepard wanted was some hotshot young doctor who did not have the necessary clearance handling her medical file; trying to make their name on the infamous turncoat.
Dr. Brooks tucked the datapad under one arm as she folded her arms across her chest. "I was personally selected by Alliance brass to handle this case, Commander. Given the recent reports regarding you, they wish for me to verify as much information as possible."
"Then I'm certain that underneath that last date it should also have some kind of notation about being killed in action. Or does being declared dead not merit notation in a medical file?" She gripped the edges of the table, knuckles turning white, to try and stymie her anger.
"Commander," Dr. Brooks leaned back against a counter in the room. "There are certainly notations of your presumed death in this file; however, as you are sitting here breathing and quite alive at this very moment, it obviously calls to question the validity of the information here."
Shepard felt a cold knot tighten in the pit of her stomach. She should have realized that no one was going to take her word on anything that had happened since the Collectors had destroyed the Normandy SR-1, getting her spaced in the process. "Last time I checked, Doc, you weren't an attending physician of mine at all during the past three years. You have no fucking idea what I have or have not been through, so why don't you stop questioning my integrity and get to doing the job you were sent here to do?"
"Perhaps you should have thought about your integrity before you defected over to a terrorist organization, Commander."
The self-righteous words of the doctor hung in the air for several deathly quiet moments while Shepard did her best to rein back the wave of dark energy that flared to life suddenly. No matter if the topic was the always the elephant in the room, there was no benefit of the doubt given to her. No second chance. Always the presumption that she had gone bad, and that infuriated Alexis. It was probably fortunate that the doctor had taken the quiet moment to turn and start gathering the few instruments she would need to run her tests. "I didn't defect."
Dr. Brooks walked the short distance across the room with a tray full of little electrodes and instruments. With deft expertise, she quickly began applying the tiny sensors to Shepard. "So you claim."
For all the venomous words, the doctor actually applied the sensors with a relative gentleness, but it did not dissolve any of the anger that had still been brewing for Shepard. "Ah, that's right. I'm no better than a common Blue Suns merc now. Let's not pay any mind to everything that I did prior to two years ago." Shepard pulled back from Dr. Brooks's touch. "So exactly whose damned word would be good enough for you?"
A look of contempt crossed Dr. Brooks's face before she jammed an instrument into Shepard's arm. Shepard felt a prickly sensation shoot through her arm as the instrument drew some blood, but Shepard ignored it. "What? Nothing more to add? I seriously want to know who the fuck I could drag down here to get you to actually treat me like any other patient? How about Dr. Chakwas? She's an Alliance doc, just like you."
"Former Alliance. She resigned her last post over a year ago, and our last reports have her serving with Cerberus, and on your ship. Not exactly brimming with credibility there."
Alexis tensed her jaw, trying to keep from grinding her teeth together. "She resigned her post in order to ensure that Lt. Moreau would have the necessary care. She put the concern for others ahead of her career."
Dr. Brooks scoffed. "Right, that's so much better. She resigned to take care of someone who defected because he thought he killed you. Or at least was part of your elaborate cover in faking your death."
"I didn't fake my death." Alexis gripped the edge of the table, her knuckles shaking as they turned white.
"No, you had Cerberus destroy a prototype warship, killing dozens of honest Alliance personnel so you could jump ship. The honorable and brave Commander Shepard." One of the metal doors to a cabinet flew across the room at a breakneck speed, crashing into a wall with a sickening crunch leaving a notable dent marred in the once smooth surface. Dr. Brooks let out a startled yelp as she recoiled from the sound, her eyes looking on in a bit of terror at the crash.
"Get the fuck out." An icy ripple flared down Shepard's spine.
Dr. Brooks backed away, her feet almost slipping on the smooth surface, eyes wide as she stared at Shepard. "Wha..?"
"I said get the fuck out! NOW!" The door to the room struggled violently in its frame, the metal groaning terribly. A flare of energy erupted briefly in the room as the door was ripped from the wall. Shepard briefly saw Dr. Brooks drop quickly to the ground, covering her head to avoid the projectile as it collided into the opposite wall.
"Do you have any fucking clue who I even am?" Shepard stalked over to where her clothes laid. She quickly yanked on her clothes and shoved her feet into the boots sitting on the ground. "I'm the god damned Savior of the Citadel. I'm the hero of the Skyllian Blitz. I'm Commander fucking Shepard, and no one ever asked me if I would be okay with anything that Cerberus so graciously assumed for me!
"I'm not a damned traitor! And neither is any of my crew. I would take any one with the caliber of Chakwas' character any day over a sniveling bitch like you." Shepard grabbed the rest of her belongings and headed to leave the broken remains of the exam room. She stopped briefly next to the still cowering figure of the doctor, kneeling down next to her. "At least none of my defects would be ready to piss themselves in fear because they mouthed off to the wrong person."
With a smug smirk, Shepard stood and left the room. As she walked through the open doorway, three marines leveled their assault rifles directly at her. Shepard let out an exasperated sigh and stopped in her tracks. "Stand down, Soldiers."
None of the men flinched at her order, and she pinched the bridge of her nose to try and rein back the new wave of anger rising in her. "I said. Stand. Down."
Once again, all three marines remained statuesque, keeping their sights trained on Shepard as their target. "Last time I checked the Alliance did not have any damned jurisdiction over Spectres. So either take your best shot, or stand the fuck down and get out of my way." She was practically snarling the last of her words.
Shepard watched as two of the marines shot nervous glances between each other and took a few steps backwards, fidgeting slightly. Slowly, those two marines lowered their rifles, but the third continued to hold his ground, ignoring that the rest of his squad was no longer backing him up. "So what's it going to be tough guy? Are you going to shoot me? Is it really worth seeing if you can get a clean shot before I..."
"Commander!" Anderson's voice interrupted her with a reprimanding tone. Shepard quickly turned to the direction his voice came from, swallowing the rest of her words. From down the hall, she could see Councilor Anderson quickly heading in her direction. There was no mistaking the man accompanying him, with the dark hair that was as thick as it appeared, and whiskey colored eyes - it was Kaidan.