The group charged into the colony and Annie found it all feeling too odd. When the Illusive Man told her that the colony had been attacked she immediately imagined the burning features of Mindoir. But this place was nothing like that. It just looked abandoned, as if the entire colony had up and left in the middle of dinner. The only sign of life was the reprogramed mechs that they continued to run into, nothing too difficult.

The greatest surprise of all, though, was running into a quarian team. They came barging through a colonist's abandoned home, met with raised guns and the familiar appearance of facemasks and decorated body suits. "What do you want?" One of the male quarians hummed only for another to come beside him and push his gun to the side.

"A-Annie?" The voice was familiar as Annie's eyes focused in on the source and she smiled. She never thought she would be so happy to see a breathing mask before…then again Annie never thought she would be able to recognize someone just by said breathing mask.

"Tali," Annie breathed, immediately holstering her weapon as she pulled Tali into her arms. Annie's body groaned at her, a few muscles still sore from all of the commotion but she ignored it as she squeezed Tali tight. It was then Annie realized how long it had been. She could feel it in the way Tali hesitated, in how she gingerly patted Annie on the back and recoiled from her embrace. Sadness stabbed Annie in the gut as Tali shook her head in disbelief.

"What…how…?" She asked, looking at Miranda and Jacob and then taking a step back. "And why are you working with Cerberus?"

"I…It's not what it looks like!" Annie quickly sputtered out, "They brought me back to life. In return, they asked me to help look into disappearing colonies. That's why we're here."

"How long…how long have you been up?" She questioned, gesturing to the scars that still showed brightly on Annie's face.

"No more than a few hours. It's been…busy," Annie chuckled as Tali joined in with the nervous laughter. The two spoke some more, trading information on the colony and where they should be heading. They agreed to team up for the simple purpose of getting to the target: an overly nervous quarian that had been stationed here on his pilgrimage. Walking from the shelter as a group, they prepared to part ways as they finished up the details of the plan.

"Annie…" Tali called, stopping Annie from heading off, "do you plan on contacting Liara?" The question made her look away as uncertainty filled her features. Tali laid a gentle hand on Annie's shoulder and if she could see Tali's face she was sure there would be a sympathetic smile. "It might be best to see her in person, first. It'll be easier on her." Annie wanted to ask Tali what she meant by that but decided not to, almost too scared to. Two years could change a person and she had to admit she was terrified about what two years could have done to her lover. But Annie chose to ignore it, soldiering on as she always did.

Annie, Jacob, and Miranda made their way through the colony, finally coming upon the very distraught quarian, Veeto. He kept muttering about the monsters coming back for him, to take him like they did with the humans. Annie didn't like the sound of it, and certainly didn't like the look of it as he showed them security videos that caught the villains in the act.

Collectors, as Miranda called them. Annie heard the name uttered every so often between higher ranked Alliance officers but hardly enough to get any sort of picture. But here they were and she wasn't sure how to take the information. Instead, Tali allowed them to take Veetor's omni-tool while the quarians took the injured and troubled brother back to their fleet. Miranda and Jacob didn't seem quite pleased but it was a firm reminder to both of them that even though Cerberus was funding this, Annie wasn't one of them. Information was good, but it always came at a price and I refused to kidnap Veetor just because the operatives hoped to squeeze a few more drops of information from the traumatized alien.

When they got back, though, was when Annie realized just how much the Illusive Man was hiding from her. He knew about the Collectors and only seemed to use this mission as a way to strengthen his theory. Annie couldn't hide how much that bothered her. He was a man at a desk, a man that didn't see death unless it was behind a computer screen. It was as if he completely ignored the colony of people simply gone.

"I need you to go after them. We've traced their last known location to the Omega 4 Relay. But no ship that has traveled there has returned." Annie crossed her arms over her chest with a frown, it wasn't the impossibility that bothered her, it was the "but" that hung heavily in the air. "I've collected a team of specialized operatives to help you with your mission."

"I had a good team," Annie spat, her fingers digging into the armor in her bicep to keep her still. The Illusive Man simply gave a disappointed sigh as he tapped the ash from the end of his cigarette.

"Shepard, it's been two years since then. They've moved on." He said it so matter-of-factly. Maybe they had, maybe they hadn't, but she didn't care. Two years or not they wouldn't just ignore Commander Shepard when she needed them.

"Well where have they gone then?" Annie asked, raising an accusing brow as if she had caught him off guard.

"Ashley Williams has taken up a post at a human colony in the Terminus system, some sort of Alliance undercover mission. I doubt dragging her away from it would be easy. Urdnot Wrex returned to his people in Tachunca. I hear he has a very firm place in Krogan politics. Garrus disappeared off the radar only a few months after you were declared dead. Tali…she was unexpected but I believe she's given you her own reason for being unable to come along." Annie bit on her lower lip, attempting to keep it from trembling. They had all moved on. Commander Shepard died and they just got on with their lives…was she really that easy to forget?

"And…and Doctor T'Soni?" She couldn't even bring herself to speak about the asari on a personal level.

"She is on Illium, apparently working for the Shadow Broker. Being involved with her could jeopardize our mission." Annie cleared her throat and nodded, her spirit crushed as he went on about the rest of her requirements, about needing a new ship and pilot. In truth she hardly heard him, her mind still rolling over the fact that her friends…her family had moved on without her. Sure it had been two years, but they had to have had some hope that Annie would come back. Right? The great Commander Shepard couldn't just…die.

Annie turned from the call only to come face to face with Joker. He gave her a big smile like he always had, filled with excitement as she forced one of her own. The pilot jabbered on about what happened after she died, Annie simply nodded along as she followed him down the hall. When the Normandy SR-2 was revealed she had to admit it took her breath away a bit. To see the old girl back…it was the first good thing Annie had going for her since waking up.