'Thoughts'

"Verbal speech via communication devices"

"Verbal speech"

(LOCATION CHANGE)

I do not own Mass Effect. I own this story, OCs etc and here's a warning, this chapter will contain violence, swearing, and scenes that may be disturbing. You have been warned. Oh, and please review when you have finished reading.

(EN ROUTE TO CITADEL/NORMANDY/MEDICAL BAY)

"Ugh," Beth groaned as her eyes opened briefly and the overhead lights almost blinded her, "Someone turn off that light. What happened?"

Then it all came flooding back and she sat up quickly. Too quickly. Her head throbbed and the world went blurry. She was dimly aware of someone gently pushing her back down onto the bed.

"Relax, Beth." It was Tali, "The doctor says you need to rest until the treatment settles down."

'Get your paws off me, you alien bitch!'

"Commander," Beth kept her eyes closed and lay still, "John, is he…?"

"He's going to be fine." Dr Chakwas had joined them, "Thankfully the shot didn't pierce too far and no major organ damage. His implants repaired most of the critical damage on your way here. You on the other hand are going to have a lovely bruise for a while. Your helmet and biotic barrier took most of the impact."

Beth grimaced as she remembered the shuttle door rushing towards her, "How hard did I hit it?"

"James and Steve assure me that the imprint of your head is visible from outside the shuttle." Tali chuckled lightly.

'Shut up, quarian!'

"Seriously though," she continued, "There's nothing to worry about. The shuttle's being fixed up, you and Shepard are on the mend. Everything's okay, Beth."

The woman felt Tali's hand gingerly hold hers, "Thanks, Tali."

"Hey, what are friends for?"

'You will never be my friend.'

Beth swallowed as she sensed Chakwas moving away, "Ann?"

"She knows what happened to her father." The quarian's voice was disheartened, "She'll be waiting in his lab to help pinpoint Leviathan's location."

"Good, this hunt is almost over then." Beth slowly opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the light before focusing on her visitor's purple visor helmet, "Why are you so nice to me?"

Despite the helmet she could tell Tali was taken aback by the question, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm a clone made by Cerberus to be a weapon. Doesn't that bother you?"

Tali's grip on her hand tightened comfortingly, "Beth, I don't care what your origins are. As far as I am concerned you are a person, living on the same ship as me, fighting the same fight to save the galaxy. That makes us family. When John first rescued me from Saren's assassins I was welcomed onto a ship full of humans just because I was there to hunt the rogue Spectre down like they were. They didn't care about race, or beliefs, it was about how we were alike, not how we were different."

Unexpectedly Beth felt tears gathering in her eyes and she lifted her spare hand to wipe at them, "Agh, got something in my eye."

"Here," Tali handed her a tissue from the box beside the bed.

"Thanks," Beth dabbed at her eyes, "Really, Tali, thanks."

"No problem." The quarian's warm and honest smile was almost visible behind the helmet.

"Tali, your assistance is requested in engineering." EDI announced over the intercom.

Rising from her seat Tali released Beth's hand, "Take it easy. We'll save some Reapers for you and John."

"I'll hold you to that." Beth smiled as she watched the quarian leave the medical bay.

'I should have shot her in the back.'

"Shut up." She mumbled to herself and slowly sat up to look over at John lying in another bed, "When can I get out of here, doc?" she asked Chakwas.

"When I say you are cleared to do so." She looked over from her desk, "So lie back down in that bed."

Pouting in a rather childlike manner Beth did as she was told.

(CITADEL/C-SEC DETENTION BLOCK ALPHA ONE)

Maya Brooks, as she was currently aliased as, was not happy.

Not only had she lost all contact with Shepard since giving him that information about the Cerberus station where the clone was created, she had also been denied any information about the man's status.

"You still believe that your little piece of info will get your ass out of here?" Bailey asked casually while flicking through an audio book she'd selected, "Oh, have they figured out which of the crew are Cylons yet?"

On a brighter note, she had been able to strike up conversations with the C-Sec commander when he visited to make sure she was still locked up. Hopefully over time she could use any news he mentioned to plot her next move.

"I am sure it will." She maintained, "The information was valuable and he doubtless has recovered something far more worthwhile from the station. And no, they haven't figured out all of them yet. One of them shot Adama senior though."

Bailey closed the book, "Still can't believe you thought you would get away with dressing up a clone as Shepard and getting away with it."

Her composed face twitched slightly at the insult to her plan, "It almost did."

"Oh yeah, right up until you tried to take on Shepard and his whole damn personal army." The man chuckled.

"A miscalculation." She dismissed it with a wave of her shackled hand, "In my defence however I did lock them all inside vaults to die. No-one else could make that claim."

Bailey shook his head, "You're missing the point. I've lost track of how many stories and rumours are going around about Shepard and his team overcoming the odds every time. Hell, he cured the genophage, allied the turians and krogan, made peace between the quarians and geth, what chance did you think you had?"

She lifted her chin defiantly, "He's just one man. He has been killed in the past and were it not for Cerberus your legendary hero would not be here to save you. Which means he can be killed again."

"Yeah well," Bailey rose to leave, "You tried locking him up, you tried dropping him through a fish tank, you pretended to be his ally, and you tried taking his ship… how did that work out for you?"

Brooks remained seated as the man left and her cell door hissed shut. If Shepard wasn't going to get her released for the information… then she'd have to use her backup plan.

A dangerous smirk appeared briefly on her lips, before it was replaced with a scowl when she realised Bailey had taken the book she'd been reading. Robots that looked like humans and a warship called Galactica with an XO that sounded so much like Bailey…

(DOCKING BAY/NORMANDY)

Finally released from the medical bay and dressed in uniform Beth made her way directly to the cabin she shared with John for the time being. Once there she carefully stripped out of her uniform and into the shower.

The blast of warm water felt immensely refreshing after being confined to the medical bay until the doctor had seen fit to let her go.

Beth gingerly lifted a hand to her bruise and carefully felt the skin.

'Tali is all alone in engineering.'

She vaguely recalled hearing that Adams and his two assistants would be spending a lot of time working on the ship's internal systems. They would be gone from the drive core, the quarian would be all alone…

The shower was switched off and she quickly dried herself off before pulling her uniform on and calling the elevator.

'She must be eliminated.'

Beth arrived in engineering. She glanced along the access corridor. Javik and that war reporter Allers both kept to their rooms mostly. She emerged from the elevator and looked up at the ceiling, "EDI?"

"Yes, Beth?"

"I need to have a private and important conversation with Tali. Can you lock the doors behind me and switch off all monitoring equipment?"

"I can, however I will need a full reason behind this request. Security protocols are quite clear on the matter."

"EDI, it's personal. Tali is the only person I feel I can talk to about it. Please just give me a few minutes. Then you can turn everything back on and ask her yourself if it's okay."

There was no response.

"EDI?"

"This will be registered. You have seven minutes starting now."

"Thanks." Beth walked into main engineering and glanced back to see the doors lock.

"Beth?" Tali looked up from her console, "What brings you down here?" then her head looked past to the doors, "And why are the doors locked?"

'Silence her!'

The clone clenched her fists tightly and looked at the floor.

"Are you okay?" Tali asked concernedly, "Do you need to go back to the medical bay?"

"Can you teach me?" Beth blurted out.

Tali blinked in surprise, "What?"

"Can you teach me how to work technology like you do? I was cloned with biotic powers and the knowledge of weaponry but when it comes to technology, I can just about use an omnitool." Beth looked up hopefully, still fighting the urge to tear the quarian apart with biotics.

"You want me to, tutor you?"

Beth swallowed nervously, "I'm sorry, it's just that I don't want anyone to know… and I trust you Tali. You are such a nice person; I feel I can tell you."

"Beth," Tali strode forward and hugged the startled clone, "You have nothing to be ashamed of. We all started from somewhere to learn. Of course I'll help you."

'Get your filthy paws off me!'

Stepping back Beth smiled gratefully, "I'd appreciate it, Tali. I know you're busy of course so don't feel you have to make time for me."

"It's not a problem at all." Tali insisted, "I have a couple of hours off tomorrow evening. Come by and I'll be more than happy to help."

"Excuse me, Tali." EDI greeted, "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, EDI." The quarian replied "No problem at all."

"Very well, all equipment is back online and the doors are open. Beth, Commander Shepard has been cleared for duty. He is expecting you to join him on the Citadel."

"Thanks, EDI." Beth glanced up, like all crew members did when addressing the AI as though she was looking down on them, "Bye Tali." She rushed out of engineering.

(NORMANDY DOCKING BAY)

"Bailey?" John looked surprised as the C-Sec commander and a pair of officers approached, "Something wrong?"

"Your prisoner is requesting an update on your condition." He grunted, "She's still waiting for the clearance for her release."

John frowned, "I don't want her released, but I did make a deal…"

"If you want my opinion we keep her locked up and throw away the key." Bailey offered, "She's too dangerous to be let loose, especially with this damn war on."

"Let me talk to her." Beth looked up suddenly, "I need to ask her some questions."

John looked concerned, "Are you sure that's a wise idea?"

"Probably not," she shrugged, "But she's the only one who can tell me more about my origins."

Shepard still didn't look convinced but he needed to get to Bryson's lab as soon as possible to continue the hunt for Leviathan so he nodded, "Alright, but be careful, and if she starts making any weird noises get out of there."

"Don't worry bro," Beth flashed a grin, "I can handle myself."

He smiled briefly before getting into a cab with EDI and James and flying away.

"So you're the clone the information led to?" Bailey asked as they walked towards the elevator.

"Yeah," Beth's face darkened, "And Brooks better have some fucking great reasons behind why she left me on that station."

(C-SEC DETENTION BLOCK ALPHA ONE)

Brooks sat silent, staring at the clone.

Beth sat silent, staring at the prisoner.

Once the door sealed shut the biotic lifted a fist coated in energy, "Why did you leave me in that pod?"

"I didn't need you." The prisoner replied smoothly, "If Cerberus has no need for you, well you get the idea."

"You left me there to die." Beth hissed, "I was nothing more than a tool to you."

Brooks smirked, "Well let's think back shall we? You were grown for the sole purpose of being spare body parts for the real Shepard. When your growth procedure went wrong you were locked away as a failure but kept alive solely for being a soldier. So yes, you were, and are, a tool."

Fury flashed through Beth and she lifted her biotic charged fist with the intent to smash it into the bitch's face.

'Cerberus protocols engaged.'

Her hand lowered and the biotic energy dissipated.

At first Brooks was surprised but then a greedy manipulative look grew onto her face, "You have conditioning, don't you?"

Beth's mind was not in control of her body as she listened to herself reply, "Yes."

"You hear voices telling you to kill aliens?" the smug look on the prisoner's face made Beth sick.

"Yes." She answered.

"And that same conditioning prevents you from hurting me." Brooks held out her shackled hands, "Release me."

Beth fought her conditioning with every part of her free will, "I can't."

"You will obey." Brooks demanded, "Cerberus demands obedience."

"Fuck Cerberus." Beth growled.

'You will obey.'

Her hands shook as they reached out, coated in biotic energy, towards the shackles.

The door hissed open, the suddenness took Beth by surprise and allowed her to regain control of her body and jerk backwards.

"Everything alright in here?" a turian officer peered in.

"Yes," Beth stood quickly, "I'm ready to leave."

The turian moved aside to allow her past but she distinctly heard Brooks shout behind her.

"Get me out of here!"

'Command identified and logged. I will obey.'

(NORMANDY/WAR ROOM)

"We have narrowed down the search to this cluster." EDI waved a hand and enlarged the section on the projector, "Leviathan is in this area."

John stepped forward, "I don't know what we're going to find but it will be desperate. It's thrown plenty in our way to stop the search so be ready. Once EDI has finished scans of each location we'll move on until we find the right one. At that point we will deploy in the shuttle to the surface. Beth, Liara, Javik, head down to the armoury and get geared up so we're ready. Dismissed."

As the crew dispersed John moved to block Beth's path, "Is there something you want to tell me?"

'Tell him and he'll shoot you.'

"Brooks just screwed me around." She sighed, "All the same crap about me being made as spare parts, then as a weapon or a tool. Nothing useful."

He nodded sympathetically, "I know I can't change your past, but accept that here and now you are a person. You have friends and people who care about you. You may have been made by Cerberus but that doesn't make you their property."

'Oh, yes it does.'

"Thanks, John." She gave a brief nod then moved past him and out of the war room.

Shepard stared at the closed door, deep in thought.

'Something more is troubling her. When we get back to the Citadel I'll have a chat with Brooks myself.'

(SHUTTLE)

'I can do this. One mission. Just one mission. Aliens are allies. This is a mission. John has given us orders. I obey his orders. This is a mission.'

"Beth?" Liara asked, "Are you alright? You look pale."

The clone clenched her jaw shut and nodded violently.

"Are you sure?" the asari sat down beside her, "It's natural to be anxious."

'Will you shut your trap you blue whore!'

The shuttle rocked and everyone grabbed the nearest handhold.

"Electromagnetic pulse!" Cortez shouted, "Brace for crash landing."

Everyone strapped themselves in with crash harnesses just in time for a heavy bump as the shuttle managed to glide in to land.

John was the first to recover as he opened his harness, "Everyone alright?"

"I'm fine, John." Liara assured him as she started undoing her restraint.

"Likewise, Commander." Javik confirmed.

"I'm going to slit Liara's throat." Beth gave thumbs up… before realising what she said.

Thankfully no-one heard her as a heavy storm outside and the clanking as the squad loaded their weapons and checked equipment seemed to drown it out.

"What did you say?" John moved over to help open her harness.

"I said I'm good." She slid the harness up and pulled on her helmet, "What happened?"

"EMP took everything offline." Cortez announced, "I can get it up and running again but we're sitting ducks in the meantime."

"Alright." John manually opened the shuttle door, "Disembark and form a defensive line around the shuttle until it's online."

Stepping out into the rain and sharp cold winds Beth felt bad for Liara and Javik, neither of whom had helmets. That feeling was replaced by a hope they would get sick.

'For fuck's sake. I am fed up wishing bad things on people I actually like! Yes Javik is a bit of an asshole sometimes but he's still the type of soldier who'd never leave a man behind no matter what species they are. Liara is in love with John, and if he trusts her that much then I should too.'

"Alright." John signalled with hand gestures, "Spread out and have a look around."

It seemed they had landed on some old naval facility judging by the remains of the structure and a broken Atlas-class diving mech suit. Dotted around their landing point were more of the artefacts, though they were inactive. In shelters they found logs from others who had been stranded by the EMP pulses. Their remains were still visible.

"We can't risk the Normandy making a recovery mission." John announced as they regrouped at the shuttle, "Cortez how long till the shuttle's up and running?"

"I'm gonna need a few minutes, Commander."

A thunderous roar filled the air and the squad looked up to see a Reaper outline in the sky. Almost immediately the fireballs started raining down towards them.

"Incoming hostiles!" John flicked his Avenger to fully automatic, "Keep them away from the shuttle."

The first wave of Reaper troops comprised mostly of their front line infantry of Husks and Cannibals. Upon landing the Husks started running for the shuttle.

Unfortunately for the defenders the many shelters and containers did not give them a clear line of fire so the Husks had the advantage as they ducked and weaved around the corners. By pressing the squad back to the shuttle it meant that the Cannibals could move up unhindered.

"Beth, flank right!" the commander yelled.

She ran out around the far side of the battlefield and was presented with a group of the Cannibals splitting up to cover the flanks.

In short while the Husks poured directly towards the shuttle the Cannibals would flank from both sides and overwhelm the defenders.

"Not on my watch." Beth charged her biotics as much as she could before unleashing a shockwave that launched every one of the Cannibals over the edge of the platform and into the churning sea.

But that sudden exertion left her groggy and she took a knee while massaging her temples as a throbbing headache started.

'I have seen your mind, and it is chaos.'

She slowly looked up and out at the sea, "Leviathan?"

'A legend passed down by those who believe the legend. I am more.'

"What are you?" she managed to get back to her feet, "Are you a Reaper?"

'No, and yes. We are before, and after, the cycle.'

"Will you help us stop the Reapers?" Beth didn't even notice as a squad of Marauders rained down from the skies.

There was no response.

"BETH!"

She jumped and saw Liara running right for her, "What's going on?"

The asari tackled the clone to the ground just before a spray of fire from the Marauders whipped past, "Stay down."

"Shuttle's back online, providing fire support."

Beth looked up to see the blue Kodiak soaring overhead raining down fire on the Reaper forces while John and Javik pressed them from the ground. It looked to be going in their favour until another pulse rocked the shuttle and sent it crashing down at the other end of the platform.

"Get to the shuttle!" John raced past with Javik in tow.

Beth scrambled to her feet and hurried after Liara. Already Brutes were landing and approaching the shuttle where Cortez was in cover and firing random shots with a pistol.

The Brutes turned their attention to the more significant threat, it was possible that every Reaper had standing orders to kill Shepard on sight from Harbinger, the squad was ready however and a combined assault of bullets, biotics, and a grenade put down both the large creatures allowing the squad to regroup at the shuttle.

"There's no point trying to take off with that pulse still active." Cortez informed them, "Only way off this place is to find the source and take it out."

John glanced over cover and loosed a few shots at approaching Reaper forces, "How do we get down there?"

"There's a functioning diving mech." Cortez pointed to a storage container where a visible and operational unit was waiting, "But the facility power grid is offline, you'll need to charge the door with spare energy cells from the shuttle."

"We'll cover you, sir." Beth nodded sharply, then stood up to throw a biotic sphere at a Cannibal. As it collapsed it was immediately set upon by others of its kind.

'Your devotion is admirable, but irrelevant.'

(CITADEL/EMBASSIES/COMMANDER BAILEY'S OFFICE)

"What do you mean a power failure?" Bailey looked in stunned disbelief as an asari technician stood rambling about how something had lain dormant in the system ever since Cerberus attempted a takeover, "So what's going to happen?"

"There are two possible outcomes." The technician looked at her datapad, "Best case scenario, the bug is shut down before it does any damage and everything goes on as normal."

Bailey knew he shouldn't ask this question but did so anyway, "And the worst case scenario?"

She looked up uneasily, "Every detention block cell in the entire Citadel opens."

The human opened an intercom link, "This is Commander Bailey to all C-Sec relay stations. A virus has infected our system with the ability to open all cells. Until it has been removed I want every damn officer available in riot gear at security points across the entire Citadel. Be prepared for a station wide jail break people."

His door opened: three turian officers entered, and saluted, "Sir."

Despite his protests, the Council had ordered that at all times he be accompanied by a bodyguard squad. They felt that as both the leader of C-Sec and as someone who was only too happy to be on the frontlines with his fellow officers that someone needed to watch his back.

"Lock and load boys." He clipped two pistols to his belt, "We could be facing the biggest disaster since Sovereign. How long till this bug is gone?" he asked the asari.

"We've got everyone available working on it." She insisted, "Our estimates say thirty minutes."

Bailey nodded, "Alright then, if you need me I'll be at Detention Block Alpha One."

With the bodyguards falling in behind him Commander Bailey found himself praying for a best case scenario.

(DETENTION BLOCK ALPHA ONE)

Maya Brooks sat quietly in her cell listening to the sounds of the C-Sec officers moving back and forth fully kitted out in armour with riot shields and Avenger assault rifles.

Most detention blocks the guards would only carry stun weaponry as their prisoners were not of significance. This block however housed the worst criminals in the galaxy who had flocked to the Citadel since Omega was captured by Cerberus.

Thanks to a number of contacts she had managed to work into an alliance with Jona Sederis, the psychopathic former leader of Eclipse. In exchange for her release Sederis had guaranteed Brooks a seat on their escape ride from the Citadel. Chaos, death, and freedom all depended on that virus she implanted during the very brief time when she had Shepard's Spectre codes and the approved fingerprints of his clone in the Citadel Archives. A precaution she felt worth taking.

So now, as she was confined to her cell she could almost see the virus spreading through the system while whatever tech geniuses they had worked to stop it. The one thing she didn't mention to Sederis was that the virus only had a fifty-fifty chance of working.

A toss of the coin. If she was right there would be pandemonium and a ride off this station. If she was wrong she'd spend the rest of her time avoiding Eclipse prisoners who, under orders from Sederis, would tear her apart for failing to deliver their freedom.

The coin had been tossed.

(DETENTION BLOCK ALPHA ONE/SECURITY CHECKPOINT)

Bailey stared at the monitors, willing the image of the sealed doors to remain that way until he received confirmation the virus was gone.

Everyone was silent. His officers throughout the station and the prisoners themselves simply waited for fate to determine the path that would be followed. Chaos or order? Open or closed?

"This is Commander Bailey," he announced across all detention blocks of the Citadel, "Stand ready. I am authorising lethal force only if absolutely necessary. Should you be in danger of being overwhelmed then fall back and regroup. We can hope the blast doors will contain them but if the doors fail then we are all that stands between them and the citizens of this station which we are sworn to protect. I trust that you will do your duty as I will do mine."

"Sir!" the image on the monitor flickered and refocused, "Look!"

Bailey leaned down to examine the image.

The doors were opening.