A high pitched whistle echoes in the room. Synthetic eyes narrow at the report before him, his finger gracing the crystal edge of his glass, a half burned cigar held tightly in the other hand. An old file, covered in the metaphorical dust of three years of abandonment, once more open to the eyes of one of a the few who are still allowed to peer at the data it holds.
A file newly opened by a distant fear, and sense of curiosity, new information and old hunches, all at the reader's fingertips. An ancient threat to Cerberus slowly unveils and all the man in charge can do is try to stay calm and hope it's just an old sense of paranoia.
The Artemis Project.
White gives a large yawn as she stretches her sore arms over her head. She enters the mess hall to see everyone sitting to breakfast, but seeing people with food is a different matter. No one had any in front of them. White looks up at the counter to see steaming bowls left untouched. She approaches and looks into one, no fur, it even has a spoon already in it.
Yesterday the food wasn't too bad, take off the fur and it was quite decent. Better than Varren sandwiches for sure. White sits down to many odd glances from the other people at the table. She grabs the end of the spoon and attempts to eat, attempt being the keyword in this situation.
The spoon doesn't even give a hint of budging. White changes the grip and pulls, pushes, even turns the bowl upside down. The spoon doesn't move. People chuckle at her efforts from their positions in the mess hall. With a growl she tries one more time, groaning in exertion.
With a pop the food and spoon fly out the bowl, right onto the side window of the med bay, the spoon is still lodged deep into the food.
"What is in this stuff, super glue?"
White sighs as she walks up to the window and grabs the spoon once more, people breaking into loud fits of laughter behind her. She puts her foot on the glass and pulls with all her strength, but it doesn't come off. With a huff White gives up, her face red from the strain she had already put into the task, "Never thought I would miss Varren meat."
The laughter dies down as White turns and steps away, but a voice behind her causes her to freeze, "Where do you think you're going?"
Knowing multiple eyes are glued to her position, White slowly turns to see a middle aged woman with gray and white hair, her arms crossed over her chest. The woman's expression is friendly and her smile teasing, but what freaks White out is her outfit. The one piece suit, the gloves, obviously a doctor's outfit, and doctors mean needles.
Licking her lips, White looks around for any kind of sign of Shepard, Miranda, or even Jacob to help her out this, but only finds that the other members of the crew are starting to leave in small groups. Carefully sorting her thoughts she finally clears her throat and speaks, "To the woman's restroom for a shower, Ma'am."
"I would rather you to remove the food from my window or the very least receive a full medical examination that I haven't had a chance to give you."
The doctor gestures in the direction of the med bay with a tilt of her head.
"I'll get a putty knife." White replies hastily turning around, but the doctor is fast as she catches White's shoulder and pushes her in the direction of the med bay.
"Come on, you can't avoid a checkup forever." The doctor chimes in motherly way.
"I was hoping that I can." White whimpers as she gives up, "What is your name anyway?"
"Dr. Chakwas and yours is Maria White, better known as the Ghost of Omega."
"Shepard told you, didn't she?"
"I also read your medical file, or should I say your lack of a medical file."
White looks to the Doctor in surprise as the doors open before the two.
"I have a medical file."
White's stern statement only causes Dr. Chakwas to chuckle slightly, stopping with a soft sigh.
"An empty one, which is the reason this examination is so important. It will help future doctors in later days."
White sits down on the medical bed closest to Dr. Chakwas's little office.
"Okay, I will participate. Yet that doesn't mean I'll like it."
"If everything goes right, I won't have to use needles." Chakwas opens one of her desk's drawers and takes out an otoscope, "Now let's get a good look at those ears."
"If everything goes right, and when was the last time that happened to me in my life?"
Chakwas presses the scope into White's left ear and her eye brows go up slightly. White stares at the doctor through the side of her eye, "What's wrong?"
Dr. Chakwas lowers the otoscope and carefully runs her thumb through the hair around Whites temple. Dr. Chakwas's expression becomes serious as she stands straight. She pushes a button to lower a metallic privacy curtain over the windows and starts typing at the terminal by the table where White is sitting. With a turn of her head she acknowledges White fully and gives a stern command, "Lay down, I'm going to need to scan you."
"What's wrong Doc?!"
White starts to shake as she lies down, staring intently at the scanner above her. A shockwave of Déjà vu hit White at the sight, as if she has done this a million times before.
"There is what seems to be medical scaring in the walls of your ears and on your temples."
White lies there stunned by the announcement. She opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. Yet she finds that her mouth continues opening and closing like a gaping fish. Her eyes widen as the room becomes dark, letting her body freeze as the scanning blue light runs across her body. The light left an odd tingling feeling in White's body.
As soon as it started the scanning was finished, the lights turn back on, and data swarms into the doctor's Omni tool. Obviously what the data says is past shocking, for it causes Chakwas's eyebrows to rise to the ceiling and she stumbles into her seat. White wasn't slow to notice that and fear hits her like a charging Krogan.
"Doc…?"
The door opens and Shepard rushes in with a concerned expression. She stops at the sight of White on the table lying under a scanner. After a second Shepard snaps her head to Dr. Chakwas, "I saw the food stuck to the window and the light of a scanning in here, what happened?"
"Commander, I found medical scarring around her temples and in her ear. I wanted to know if she had any brain damage in the past that might affect her in combat that wasn't in her file. When I scanned her I got more than I expected."
The Doctor forwarded the information to Shepard's Omni tool, while White lies frozen on the table. Shepard starts reading, her face soon showing shock and fascination. She turns off her Omni tool and shakes her head. With a sigh she turns to White and narrows her eyes, "You have some explaining to do."
White stares blankly at Shepard, her green eyes trembling in fear as her skin pales to the tone of tissue paper. What can a scan show that needs explaining? The possible head damage that brought her memory loss, wait, no that can't be it. Chakwas said that there was more than a head injury. But what could the scan show? White's lips tremble with the question, her answer coming out a nervous stutter, "What is to explain? Is it my memory? I can't remember anything past three years ago."
Chakwas examines her Omni tool with increased interest, "That would explain the swelling in the hippocampus," She turns her head to the two confused woman in the room and sighs, "One of the parts of the brain that holds memory."
"But it's been three years. Shouldn't the swelling have gone down?"
Shepard is quick to observe, her voice both confused and curious.
"There are a number of chemicals that could prolong the swelling for multiple years Commander, but I know of none that could make the swelling permanent. The scan had showed evidence that the swelling has already started to go away, she should regain her memory in a timeframe ranging from a matter of days to a few more weeks, maybe a month or two. I doubt that she would remember anything significant for a much longer time than that."
Shepard looks back down to White, who in the meantime is trying to wrap her mind around the doctor's words. Her memory should be coming back. Doesn't that explain her nightmare? Does that mean her nightmares would become more frequent… or will she remember better times… if there are any?
"White, that is not all the scans picked up."
White lifts her head to the Commander's voice, her eyes off and wandering. Her focus is off kilter and flying in the air, but the Commander's next words push it all back in line, "You are 45% cybernetics."
White could feel herself almost fall off the table. Her head is awash in disbelief and shock. Cybernetics, little machines making up nearly half of her body, and she didn't even have a clue!
Blinking a few times she tries to convince herself that she heard Shepard wrong, but how could she have. No other phrases that come even close come to her mind.
"C… cybernetics… in me, 45% of me. I… I…" White freezes before shaking her head, pinning her fingers to the sides of her head, "Son of a bitch. I'm a cyborg!"
Dr. Chakwas can't help but lay out a dry laugh at the girl's exclamation, "You can say that. There are cybernetics in your joints, in your eyes, in your ears, in your nose, even in her liver, kidneys, and other major organic filters. They heighten your senses, quicken your reflexes, and make it harder for you to be poisoned, and, on a lesser note, intoxicated."
"That explains the Batarian Ale… why would I have cybernetics, I mean, I…"
White slumps and places her head in her hands, staring at the floor. Her eyes are motionless as she gazes at a suddenly interesting spot by her foot, her mind moving at a million miles her per hour, "I'm not normal. I thought I was a teen, like every other with an obsession to guns and killing, but… the cybernetics… the… son of a bitch. Why me, why the fuck is it me!?"
Shepard sighs sorrowfully, laying a hand on the adolescent's shoulder. Tears hit the floor as White breaks down into a fit of sobbing with her hands completely covering her face. The tips of her fingers dig into her forehead, causing streams of blood to slowly roll from the skin, "I didn't want this. I never in the brief life I've known wanted to me a cyborg… freak."
Her last word was little more than a whisper, lost in a renewed fit of sobs. Soon she sat up, tears and drying blood covering her face. Shortly after her strength leaves her and she lies back, staring at the scanner. The feelings of Déjà vu and familiarity becoming a comfort for her as she strains at ask the only question on her mind. With trembling lips she asks, "Is there anymore… stuff to tell me?"
Shepard looks to Dr. Chakwas who shakes her head. White bites her lip, slightly relieved, but feeling so very broken. She soon drifts off to a comforting sleep, Shepard taking it upon herself to carry the teen back to her bunk in the crews quarters, laying Mr. Bon Bon in White's arms.
The resurrected woman watches as the teen squeezes the bear, disbelieving of how the girl could be such a feared assassin. With a sigh Shepard takes one last look at White before pulling the privacy curtain and leaves the room. She has important business to do, for she has a scientist to recruit.
