A/N: collab.

Mine6chan: I'm getting better. I'm taking my pills and resting and next week I have to go for my follow up… urgh, I H A T E hospitals. They're disgusting!

Silver06: but you're getting better and that's what's important!

Mine6chan: … I guess…

Silver06: what do you mean you 'guess'?

Mine6chan: I H A T E hospitals.

Silver06: yeah, I got that.

Mine6chan: no, I don't think you do… I mean, I H A T E hospitals. I'd rather be sick than go to the hospital! Hospitals are disgusting! Everything is infested with germs, and the doctors and nurses are carriers of every kind of disease imaginable!

Silver06: … okay! I think we'll continue with the story now! *steps away from Mine6chan*

Mine6chan: *mumbling* germs bacteria virus sickness diseases infection…

Dual Reality

Chapter 7: Taken

"Disengaging the FTL drives… Emissions sinks are active… The board is green, we are running silent." Joker reported as he checked his systems.

"We're wasting our time. Four days of searching up and down this sector and we haven't found a signs of geth activity." Pressley commented as he walked behind the pilot.

Joker took a quick look over his shoulder. "Three ships went missing here in the past month. Something happened to them." He said.

"Yeah," the other pilot spoke up from his seat. "…they were destroyed by the Collectors, and not the geth." He snarled. "We've been over this, already. Have you been listening to anything I've said?" he said clearly irritated.

"I know that! Pressley was the one who brought up the geth!" Joker snapped back.

The pilot of the Normandy SR-2 shot his younger self a glare. "Stop acting like a kid and pay attention to what you're doing, idiot."

"You're the idiot!" Joker shot back at his older self.

"Stop it." A third voice said calmly and they both shut up as Alexis stepped up to the first pilot and took in the identical looks of annoyance on their faces. Pressley's right. She thought to herself. We're wasting our time here. According to John the Collectors should have shown up two days ago but there's been no sign of them. And the tension from this waiting business is starting to get to people.

Two days ago they had all been ready and waiting for the arrival of the cruiser that would turn out to be the Collector ship. Joker and John had even remembered the approximate time of their appearance but as the moment had approached and then passed the Normandy had remained the only ship in orbit around Alchera. The tension aboard the Normandy had been thick enough to be cut with a knife ever since and everyone was high strung. Several fights had already broken out between the two Subjects Zeros and they had even made a hole in floor of the Cargo bay which had caused pissed Grunt off. The three of them had created quite a mess which they were still cleaning up. John had been merciless when he'd gone down there to break the fight up. He had no patience for those that damaged his ship.

Alexis stared at the planet before her. This was where John had died, where she was supposed to die. To be truthful, the whole situation had Alexis a little worried. It wasn't that she didn't trust John when he'd said that things were going to happen differently this time around. It was just that while there had been differences in their choices and actions before, the end results had always been the same. Alexis feared that this time would be no different from John's time in spite of the all changes such as the Normandy SR-2 and John and his people, and that she was going to end up dead anyway. Alexis feared death. She might sometimes act suicidal but she truly did not want to die.

A hand took hold of hers and she looked down to see John's Joker, or Jeff as she called him, looking up at her with a cocky smile. "Don't worry Alexis. I won't let anything happen to you, babe." He said and she stared at him as she wondered if he'd somehow caught on to her fears or if he was just playing around like always.

"Hey!" her own Joker called from the other seat. "It's Commander to you! Or Shepard, but definitely not Alexis!" he said as he glared their way. Alexis had still not withdrawn her hand from his.

Jeff grinned and was about to make a comeback when the woman took back her hand and took a step forwards. His attention turned back on to her and he turned serious at the alarmed look on her face. Her eyes moved rapidly as she scanned every part of space that she could see and Jeff was almost certain she was even holding her breath.

"What is it?" he asked as he moved his eyes back and forth between the dark space in front of him and his scanners. He trusted the instruments of the Normandy more than his own eyes.

Alexis retreated and brought up the scanners on another panel. "The Collectors are here." He said as her hands flew over the controls. "EDI, get John up here and tell the crew to get ready!"

"Yes, Commander." EDI said and then her blue orb disappeared. Jeff's was already complying to her orders and suddenly he seemed to have grown two extra pairs of arms. Alarms went off and EDI's voice sounded throughout the ship.

Her own Joker pulled a face as he scrutinized every single bit of space he could see. "What are you talking about, Commander? I can't see- HOLYMOTHEROFGOD!" he yelled and jumped in his seat when the Collector ship finally appeared.

Alexis paid little attention to all the commotion and noise going on around her and stared at the ship. It's fucking huge!

"Brace for evasive manoeuvres!" Jeff warned too late and Alexis fell as the Normandy made a hard turn. The bridge lit up as the Collectors fired and the beam passed right over their heads.

"Turn the Normandy around!" Alexis ordered and got back up on her feet.

"Weapons at the ready, Commander!" Joker said and nervously watched the other ship. I've never seen anything like it. He thought.

"Joker!" John suddenly called as he ran up to them. He stopped and stared for a moment at the Collector ship. It was exactly as he remembered it. "Fire the Thanix Cannon!" he ordered.

"Aye aye, Captain!"

The ship jumped at the power of the Thanix Cannon but John barely noticed it as he watched the laser from the Cannon rip through the Collector ship. "Turn around and fire again!" he yelled.

Joker lined up the Normandy once again and fired off the Thanix Cannon. This time a part of the ship tore off as the beam hit it but John wasn't done. "Again! Hit it with everything we've got!"

The sound of the explosions, the alarms, John's yelling and the people yelling on the bridge behind them reminded Alexis of countless of other battles she had fought and she held her breath as the familiar shot of adrenaline shot through her. Jeff once again dodged the Collector's fire while Joker kept an eye on the Normandy's readings.

The Normandy SR-2 was too fast for the Collector ship to follow and the Shepards watched as it fired blindly into space. Alexis was impressed by the SR-2's performance and felt jealousy once again run through her at the thought that her own ship would have been massacred against the Collector ship. She found herself suddenly very thankful for John's help in acquiring her one of the next models of the Normandy, even if she'd never say it out loud.

Suddenly the engines of the Collector ship fired up, trying to escape. "Joker, don't let it get away!" John ordered. He moved from one side of the cockpit to the other, pushing Alexis out of the way.

When the Thanix Cannon hit the Collector ship for the fourth time the alien ship finally started to fall apart. An after explosion took part of the rear hull off and then another set of explosion propelled it towards the planet. The engines of the ship died out and debris was floating all around them. Jeff maneuvered the Normandy to a distance, she had not taken any damage what so ever and he wasn't going to risk crashing into floating debris. John had a tight grip on the back on Joker's chair staring at the Collector ship. Joker was reading off the scans he'd done on the ship and told them there was no sign of activity on board but John wasn't convinced that they'd beaten them yet.

The alarms silenced and they all watched as the gravity of the planet started to pull in the ship. EDI said something about the destruction of the ships communications systems but John was no longer listening. He did not want to miss even a single moment as the Collector ship started to fall down to the surface of the planet. It took a while and he was vaguely aware of Alexis taking charge but he couldn't be bothered to care. John had had no idea just how much he had wanted to get back at just this Collector ship until the time had finally presented itself. For the past two days he had thought of nothing else but the complete destruction of the Collector ship that had caused the death of his crew, him and his beloved SSV Normandy. He'd wanted revenge, and now he'd gotten it.

Alexis returned to the cockpit. She had ordered both Jokers not to disturb the Captain as she'd gone to check with the rest of the crew on the CIC deck and to contact the Alliance to give him a moment to himself. But now it was time to get back to work. They still had a million things to do.

John snapped back to the present as a hand was placed on his shoulder and he turned around.

"Congratulations, Captain. You've just managed to take down a Collector ship." She said and smiled at him.

John smiled back at her before turning to his pilot. "Good job, Joker. Both of you." He said and shot the other one a smile as well.

"Easy as pie, Captain." His Joker said and shot him a smile of his own.

John turned to head down the bridge. "Meet me in the comm room in 10, Alexis. We need to talk about our plans from here on." He said.

"Yes, Captain." She answered and stepped to the side to let him pass. Alexis didn't follow and instead walked up to John's Joker and leaned in as if she were going to kiss him.

Joker's eyes widened at her closeness and as he took a deep breath at the shocking green of her eyes he smelled the Normandy on her. He swallowed hard at the thought of his baby personified in the woman dangerously close before him. She was really close. So close, in fact, that if he just lifted his head just a little bit then his lips would-

"I'm impressed, Joker… Very, very impressed." She whispered and as she spoke Joker swore her lips brushed against his.

All too soon she drew back, smirking, and sashayed away down the bridge.

The younger of the two stared in shock after his commander. "Did she just kiss you?"

222

Miranda's eyes widened as she watched what the Normandy SR-2 has just done. The behemoth ship that had tried to destroy the Shepards and their ship had been the one that had ended up being destroyed not even leaving a scratch on its intended target.

"Get the Illusive Man on the line!" she yelled. "He'll want to know about this."

In their respective rooms the members of Team Echo watched the videos of the massacre of the Collector ship. They'd all been growing impatient being stuck on the Cerberus frigate, except for the drell who spent most of his time meditating, but now they were starting to think that this mission would be worth it. While they knew nothing of John Shepard they all had a fully detailed dossier on Alexis Shepard and more than one of them couldn't wait to get their hands on her.

222

In a darkened room the Illusive Man watched the one-sided battle that Miranda and Echo Team had recorded. His cigarette lay in the ashtray, forgotten for the moment, and his cybernetic eyes widened at what he was seeing.

Impossible! He thought. No species has ever been able to defeat the Reaper's Collectors! It is impossible! Humanity is not strong enough nor advanced enough!

The Illusive Man watched as the video started up for the third time. He was watching it and over again, waiting for something to change. I've been around for many cycles and never have I ever seen anything like this. I want these creatures to take care of the problem of the Reapers for me but I never thought they would be capable of doing it on their own. If they are capable of this kind of destruction what will that mean for me later on?

He looked at the full version holo-projections of the supposedly Shepard had his doubts they were related but he would find that out when he had them both in his grasp. He needed to have them both, to find out how they worked, to have them work for him.

Loyalty chips may have to be implanted. John Shepard may be more receptive and easier to manipulate but Alexis Shepard will without a doubt be a problem uncontrolled. He thought.

"Miranda," he spoke and her image replaced that of the siblings. "Capture both Shepards and their ship. We've waited long enough; it is time for us to take action."

"Yes, sir." She replied and disconnected.

222

"So we're stopping by Omega?" Alexis repeated what she'd been told. It made no sense to her, sure Tali was going to meet up with them there but Alexis didn't understand why they couldn't go pick her up at the Flotilla or why they just couldn't decide on a different place to pick her up.

"Yes. We'll give the crew 24 hours of shore leave." John said and leaned back against the table in the middle of the comm room.

Alexis turned to look at her Garrus standing in the corner behind her. "It's a good idea to let the crew blow off some steam after all that tension prior to the Collectors." He gave her his opinion.

"On Omega?" she wasn't convinced it was a good idea but John had already plotted the course.

Vakarian shifted next to John. "Something wrong?" he asked teasingly.

Alexis ignored him. "John, I don't know how Omega is in your world but here it's the equivalent of a fucking dump. Nothing good ever comes from that place, in fact, one of my goals in life is to blow it up!" she hissed.

"It's not that bad." John argued. "Have you ever been there?"

"I have! That's why I'm telling you it's a bad idea! There are no rules on Omega, no laws, no police, nothing!" Alexis said.

"Don't you know the one rule of Omega?" John asked.

"Don't fuck with Aria." His Garrus told her.

Alexis threw her hands up in the air. "Oh, for the love of-! Aria thinks she's the ruler of Omega! She thinks she has some form of control but the truth is she has nothing! Nada! Zero! "

"It can't be that bad." Her Garrus commented.

Alexis turned around and pointed from him to Vakarian. "Your idiot copy took a rocket to the face and was being hunted down by the Blood Pack, the Blue Suns and the Eclipse!"

"Garrus started it." John playfully defended his friend.

Alexis stared at them for what felt like several minutes. "…I give up. Do whatever the fuck you want, you dickhead. But when shit goes down I'm gonna say I told you so." she said and stormed out of the room.

John and his turian friend shared amused looks while the younger turian shook his head. He knew Alexis was probably right and that going to Omega was probably not a good idea. Garrus hadn't actually said that going to Omega was a good idea, what he'd really been trying to do had been to keep Alexis from getting mad, which he thought he'd done a pretty good job of considering she could have done much worse than yell.

Garrus looked at the other two who were now talking amongst themselves. It was clear that they were close friends. Even before he and his twin had been made Specters John and his twin had shared a more or less equal relationship. Garrus wondered if that was the kind of friendship he and Alexis were going to have in a couple of years. It felt strange to think of himself on equal grounds with her, to him she would always be his Commander and superior. He was pulled out of his thoughts as John asked him if he'd be willing to go on a small side mission.

"It's for the upgrades to the guns." His twin said and Garrus nodded. "I managed to track down an underground dealer who has just what we need."

"What will you be doing?" he asked.

"Samara has some things she wants look into on Omega. We didn't get a chance last time." John said. "You should probably go with Alexis, the dealer isn't the nicest person to deal with. I was going to tell her before."

Garrus shook his head. "If there's a chance there's going to be a fight then she should stay here or she'll have an excuse to start blowing the place up."

John and his twin stared at him for a second before John spoke. "Fine, but you need to take someone with you."

This time he nodded. "We're meeting up with Tali, right? I'll take her with me."

"No." John immediately said.

Garrus looked at him and nodded in acknowledgement.

"She'll team up with me." John finished and walked out of the debriefing room before his turian started commenting on his behavior.

Said turian watched his friend walk out of the room with concern. I wonder if he'll be able to even work with Tali without constantly fearing for her safety. But then again I don't think he'll trust anyone else with her safety either, not even while on the Normandy.

He was about to leave in search of Alexis fully intent on talking to her and settling matters between them when the other Garrus stopped him.

"You planning on settling things with Alexis soon?" young Garrus asked.

The older one glared. "I was just about to go look for her." While he found his younger self annoying from time to time the thing that really bothered him was the close relationship the other turian shared with Alexis. While it made perfect sense logically that his other self was as close to his Shepard as he was to John, Garrus would none the less find himself treating the younger turian as competition and it bothered him.

"You need to be straight with her. She doesn't read between the lines very well so unless you actually tell her what it is you want you won't be getting anything from her." The younger of the two said. He cared about his Commander and could see that even though she was denying it that she was as interested in his other self as he was in her. But Garrus knew that Alexis did not have much experience in the romantic compartment, Alliance regulations had put a stop to that, and knew that she needed all the help he could give.

"You seem to know her very well." Garrus growled and pulled himself to his full height.

Garrus was not impressed. "I'm her best friend." He said as if his double should understand that and considering their circumstances he should. "Just go talk to her. This is getting ridiculous." He said and walked out of the briefing room.

222

Alexis was in her room looking at everything in it. She'd found some documents on the terminal from a Miranda Lawson, the woman who's room this had been before it temporarily became hers. The documents had been heavily coded but she'd managed to hack them in minutes. There was some very detailed information about the Lazarus Project and Alexis had been surprised at the extent of it. There were pictures, lots of them, of John before, during and after the massive number of surgeries that he'd had to undergo. She silently wondered if John had ever seen them.

Then there was some correspondence with the Illusive Man and also with a woman on Illium who she'd figured was Miranda's sister. There had also been unopened messages pertaining to Miranda being sterile. That one had been a bit too personal for Alexis tastes but she'd read through it nonetheless. It seemed that whoever this Miranda woman had been she'd been John's XO. Alexis sighed as she turned around in her chair and looked at the spacious bed. It was too big for one person. True, Alexis liked her space but nit this excessively. The Cerberus of John's reality had really wasted a lot of space when they'd made the Normandy this spacious. Who needed this much space anyway?

Suddenly there was a ding as EDI's avatar appeared near the terminal.

"Officer Vakarian wishes to speak with you." EDI informed her.

Alexis' eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Which one?"

"The one you'd rather not see, Commander." EDI said and Alexis swore it was teasing her.

"Fine." She snapped at the AI.

The doors opened to reveal Vakarian standing without his customary damaged amour. "Alexis." He said with an acknowledging nod.

"What do you want, Vakarian?" she asked testily.

He smirked at her obvious annoyance, though he worried if she might be angry as well. "You and I need to talk." He said.

Alexis sighed. She'd been trying to avoid the topic for what, a month now? She knew it was inevitable that they'd end up talking about it sooner or later, but she didn't know what to say. Frankly, she would rather just forget the whole thing ever happened but the stubborn turian refused to leave it alone. Alliance rules and regulations forbade this kind of thing. But technically he wasn't Alliance and this wasn't really an Alliance ship, which meant that she didn't have to follow Alliance rules. Especially with her being a Council Specter which meant that even when she got her new ship she could still do pretty much whatever she wanted.

"What is there to talk about?" she asked. "I had a momentary lapse of judgment which resulted in the two us spending one night together. Clearly it was a mistake. I admit it was… nice, but still a mistake."

"Don't give me that bullshit." He growled. "It was more than that and you know it, Alexis." He watched her shift under his gaze.

"I don't know what-" she began but stopped as he pressed himself close to her.

"I want you. And I know you want me." He growled into her ear and inhaled her scent. "I can smell it."

Alexis shivered. Damn him. Damn all of them.

She turned around and grabbed him by his shirt. "What if I do?" she asked.

"Then…" he began and placed his hands on her hips. "we may have something to work with." He nipped at her shoulder where a scar had formed from his bite. He then pulled away. "I want you, Alexis. In any way you'll let me have you but you need to figure out what it is you want. Just know that I care and I'll be there when you make up your mind." He said and then left.

Alexis growled out in frustration. She needed to do some serious thinking about what it was she actually wanted from him. And while she was at it she might as well find out more about turians as well, that way Vakarian would stop catching her off guard. She smiled as she turned back to the terminal.

Maybe a visit to Mordin would be a good idea. She thought as she started looking for sites about turian behavior and turian/human relationships.

2222

John walked up the CIC to the cockpit to see his Joker by himself. "Going solo, Joker?" he asked.

This prompted a snort out of the pilot. "The twin said he needed a moment to himself." He said. "I think he was just shocked by Commander Alexis being 'friendly' with me." He said doing air quotes. John raised an eyebrow. "Relax, Captain. No need to get your pants all tight. Think she was just playin' around. Probably trying to get Garrus all fired up. If ya know what I meant." He winked at John.

"Whatever you say, Joker." John chuckled and then got back to business. "How much longer?"

"We hit the relay in five." Joker said. "So twenty minutes before we get back to the shithole of the galaxy."

John nodded. "Comm me before we dock." He said and left.

"Aye aye, Captain."

John returned to his room, managing a quick shower before dressing up. Legion had been able to track down Morinth on Omega and told them that the asari was planning on leaving the station soon. John had come up with a plan before Samara had even managed to voice her request. He combed his hair back, it had gotten quite long in the past couple of months and he decided to ask Kasumi for a haircut later. By the time he was headed to the mess hall Joker's voice sounded.

"We're three minutes from docking, Captain."

"Thank you, Joker." He said. "Attention all hands." He began. "I am giving all second shift personnel the night off on Omega. Try not to get into any trouble. Shore leaves starts as of this minute and ends at 0800 hours tomorrow morning. I want you all back here on the dot. I want Samara, Garrus and Grunt to meet me at the airlock. Those of you with additional missions or assignments have already been briefed. Commander Alexis Shepard will be left in charge of the ship, and all first shift personnel try to keep the ship intact, please?"

There was an audible chuckle from most of the crew as those on second shift handed over to the first shift and left the ship for shore leave.

Alexis crossed her arms over her chest and frowned as she watched John and his team leave the ship. Her own Garrus had been sent on errands as well and she was convinced he had said something to John to keep her on the Normandy.

Fine, but I'll run the ship my way. I don't trust Omega. She thought and then called out on the comm. "Jeff!"

"Damn it, woman! I know ya love screaming my name but try not to scream my ears off." He said.

Alexis smiled at the sexual innuendo. "I'll try." She muttered before turning serious again. "I want this ship on full alert the entire time we're on this piece of crap."

"Why? What's wrong?" he asked completely taken by surprise. Joker had thought that Alexis would have gone anarchy on them and demanded they have a party of their own. At least that's what he'd been thinking of proposing and had been sure she would have agreed.

"Just a feeling." She muttered but still completely serious. And not a particularly good one either.

"Got it." He said. "Attention crew; we're going on a twelve hour alert."

There were groans throughout the ship. However, they would later realize that this might just have saved their lives.

Silver06: Sorry, everybody, for the lateness of this chapter. I was totally my fault this time.

Mine6chan: *mumbles* not really… I haven't been as motivated as before to write this crap. I'm being lazy…

Silver06: *looks suspiciously at Mine6chan*… I had a huge headache that just wouldn't go away, but now it's gone!

Mine6chan: *still mumbling* 3 days ago and I could have finished this sooner …

Silver06: *wondering what Mine6chan's mumbling about* So review, please!

Mine6chan: *mumbling sarcastically* 'cause we so deserve reviews…

Silver06: Stop mumbling! What is it?

Mine6chan: *trying to look innocent* What? Nothing!