I'm so sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. School work did, indeed, catch up with me. That being said, updates may be a bit further apart from now on and for that I apologize. BUT, don't give up on me just yet!

I still don't own anything.

Shepard flew down the stairs toward the lower level, Jacob scrambling to keep up, and she wondered vaguely just how much Cerberus had added to her. Or rather, how much of her was left. As soon as her foot hit the lower level, she pivoted on her heel and ran for the door—Garrus had said that it was under the stairs, right?—leaving Jacob halfway down stairs. It wasn't that she hadn't been graceful before, but she was moving a lot faster than she should have been able to without tripping over her own feet. Miranda's got some explaining to do…

"Hold on while I open the door for you."

She crossed her arms and glared at it impatiently as Jacob came up beside her, but she didn't acknowledge him, preoccupied by her own thoughts. Had Cerberus just cloned her? Or was she just a mess of cybernetics with Commander Shepard's face? Both thoughts made her shudder inwardly. Was she even human anymore? Was she alive? Or was she just a functioning AI in a machine?

"You two were close, weren't you?"

She spared Jacob a glance out of her corner of her eye and nodded. "He was my best friend."

"Was?"

"I'm not me anymore. You and Miranda saw to that." There was nothing accusing in her voice. Not even anger. Just a statement of fact. "I don't expect him to treat me the same as he did before… Before." Something in that statement made her gut clench. Her brow furrowed slightly at that. What in the world was her body doing? But the feeling was gone before she could place it and she was forced to abandon the thought as the doors slid open. "Let's get this over with."

The resignation in the commander's voice gave Jacob pause, but he followed her down into the depths of the complex. "We didn't change anything about you, personally, Commander. The Illusive Man wanted you exactly as you were."

"Then you should have left me dead." Conversation effectively over.

"Seal those shutters and they won't be able to get in," Garrus's voice cut in over the comm. Perfect timing.

The side of her fist slammed the door control a lot harder than she'd meant to and it began its achingly slow descent. The mechanisms sounded like they would crumble to dust at any second and she scowled. Oh, this was going to be great. Vorcha scrambled toward the lowering door, yelling what she was sure were obscenities at them before bullets ripped into their organs. Yup, great. The door slammed shut and she lowered her arms.

"Good work, now get to the other two. Hurry!"

Sure, I'll get right on that, your highness, she thought darkly. Immediately, part of her was appalled. He's your friend! it shouted at her, You should be happy he's here!

Except that I can't feel anything…

She hopped over the waist-high wall toward the next shutter, pushing the thought to the back of her mind. Deal with it later. Focus on the mission. You've got more important things to think about. She barely saw the vorcha rounding the corner and dropped to the knees. The rocket sailed a hairs breadth above her head and she heard Jacob swear. No fear, no thrill. Fuck.

"Commander!"

"I'm fine!" She popped up, lodging the barrel of her pistol under the creepy alien's neck. He dropped with a wet thud as she side-stepped his body. "Let's get moving. I've had enough of this damn station." Well, that and the vorcha just made her skin crawl. She was not a xenophobe, they were just… vorcha. Biotics flared around her and she sent two more flying as she vaulted over the last barrier, pistol returned to her hip. "Cover me," she added, voice low as Jacob trailed a few steps behind her, gun raised. He yelled something after her, but she didn't hear, running beyond the shutter toward the advancing Blood Pack. Bullets flew past her, some deflecting harmlessly off her shields as she advanced, glowing blue mist pooling around her hands. With a yell, she sent a vorcha flying back with a biotic-powered punch. "Hit the shutter!" she yelled back, grabbing another by its neck. Another pulse of biotics and it slammed into an advancing krogan. Krogan. Shit.

"Shepard! Get out of there!"

She backed up a few steps, throwing another blast of biotics and she heard the door begin to descend. The krogan ran at her and she swore up and down, trying to put as much biotics between the charging ball of violence and herself as her amp started to burn at the back of her neck. Too late. She was slammed against the wall and the air rushed out of her lungs; cybernetics or not, that one hurt. The krogan let her drop to the floor and she rolled toward the shutter, pulling up her pistol. It was halfway down now. Fuck. The krogan made as if to charge again and she fired off three rounds before turning and running. "Jacob, hit it!" Biotics flew under the door and the krogan faltered. With precious seconds, she dropped, sliding just under the door beside her terrified teammate. With a decisive bang, the shutter closed and she let out a breath.

"Commander, with all due respect, never do that again."

She laughed; not a mirthless bark, but a brighter sound. Her hands shook a little as she brushed her hair out of her face and there was a light in her eyes. Adrenaline made her cheeks flush and a smirk pulled at her lips. "Where's the fun in that, Jacob? Come on, there's one left." She strode back the way they had come but as quickly as it came, the rush was gone and her expression fell. Damn.

Garrus popped out another thermal clip and reloaded his last one on hand. "They better hurry up with those shutters…" he muttered, glancing at Miranda.

"Shepard will get it done," she replied casually. Too casually. He felt his jaw tighten.

"Oh, I know that. I don't know how you know that. You don't know Shepard."

"And you do?"

Her arched brow made him want to punch her bizarre perfect-human face, but he paused. "I did. Until Cerberus got to her. The Shepard I know is in there—I keep catching glimpses—but she's changed. Not the way she did during our fight against Saren, it's different. Unnatural."

Miranda didn't look at him, lips pressed tightly together. Maybe he was right… No, no. She'd run all the tests, made sure Shepard's mind was exactly as it had been. Everything about her personality and intellect was exactly the same as it had been before. So why wasn't Shepard?

"Whatever you lot did to her, she's different. I just hope there's a way to get her back, or I'll make sure you'll regret it."

"I'd wait to make threats until we get you out of here, if I were you," Miranda warned, taking out a few courageous mercs.

He let out a hollow laugh. "I'm hardly scared of you when I've been fighting three mercenary gangs for more than a year." He turned back to the bridge and his voice dropped, "Taking on Cerberus would be a pleasure."

Shepard ground her teeth as she leaned her back against the crate she was using as cover. Of course the last shutter was in a warehouse-sized room full of Blood Pack. Why was nothing ever simple? A rocket slammed into her cover and she put out a hand to steady herself, dirt and grit landing in her hair. With a growl, she popped up and put a bullet in the rocket trooper's shoulder. Another rocket, from a different angle, barely missed her and took out a large section of wall, showering her in rubble. Her armor would be brown by the time they were done here.

"Shepard, what was that?" She would have been touched by the concern in her old friend's voice if it wasn't his mess they were cleaning up.

"Nothing, just stay focused," she replied automatically. It was always the fucking rockets… "Jacob, push forward, we need to close that shutter. Now!" They took out a few more Blood Pack mercenaries and moved forward, bullets whizzing past.

"Incoming krogan!"

She flinched inwardly and let her biotics flare up again. "Don't let it get close!" A pulse of biotics staggered the alien juggernaut and she unloaded an entire clip into its armor. As she slammed a new one in, she idly wondered what had happened to her old weapons. When had they switched from heat sinks to thermal clips? She shook her head and popped back up, emptying another clip. The krogan finally went down and she bolted toward the shutter control.

Her shoulder hit the panel and the shutter began grinding its way down as Jacob took up a position on the other side of the opening. With a nod, they both popped out of cover and started firing into the oncoming group of mercenaries. After seconds that seemed like hours, the shutter closed and she let her shoulders drop.

"Shepard, they're coming in through the doors. Get back up here as fast as you can."

Always one more thing… she thought bleakly. The adrenaline was gone and once again, she felt empty. Without a word, she started back for the stairs.

"Commander?" Jacob asked, trotting after her.

She didn't reply, just jerked her chin in the direction of the stairs and he followed.

"Shepard, they're coming in through the doors. Get back up here as fast as you can." Garrus glanced at the door on the level below. They were almost through. Damn. Garm would be with them, and he was not looking forward to that fight again. He brought his rifle back to his shoulder and waited, finger tense on the trigger.

The doors burst open and the last of the Blood Pack poured in, Garm leading with a roar. "Rip them to shreds!"

Garrus felt his stomach drop. Damn. He fired a shot almost as an afterthought, grateful that it hit the vorcha beside the huge krogan. If he'd missed, well… That would've been embarrassing. The krogan's eyes narrowed and he took a menacing step toward the stairs.

"Watch my back. I'll deal with Archangel." Krogan on the whole seemed to be born with the gift to promise violence with every word they spoke, even the mundane. This krogan was no exception.

Well, he was going to have to fight Garm again sooner or later, might as well—

A bullet ripped into the vorcha on Garm's other side and the krogan turned, growling. Garrus turned as well and relief washed over him. Shepard.

Shepard inched around the corner as the krogan Blood Pack leader stormed in. Shit, he was huge. Well, now or never. She signaled Jacob and strode forward, gunning down the vorcha beside him. Garm turned on her, malice written on his face.

"Surprise."

"Take care of them. I'm going after Archangel." He turned and headed up the stairs and Shepard leapt forward, biotics blossoming to light.

"Not if I have anything to say about it! Jacob, Miranda, open fire!" she shouted, throwing a biotic blast at him.

The krogan ignored her, charging up the stairs and she grit her teeth. "Garrus—"

"I know. I'll try to hold him off but if you can provide some assistance…"

"I'm on it." As always. She pounded up the stairs after him, firing rounds at his rapidly advancing back.

"We'll take care of the troops, Commander. Get to Garrus," Jacob called over the gunfire and she made a note to thank him when they got out of there. If.

"Shepard, I can't hold him off much longer."

She burst into the room and leveled her pistol at the krogan. Garrus was pinned on the far side of the room and Garm was advancing on him, shotgun raised. A biotic pulse knocked the krogan off balance and she fired a few more rounds, chipping away at his barrier. Damn, this was going to take a while. How was she supposed to take down barriers and armor and then kill a krogan with an unnaturally advanced regeneration factor?

"Charging krogan!"

Garrus's yell drew her out of her thoughts just as she was plastered to another wall. Her torso ached and she was sure ribs were cracked. The krogan had cracked her ribs. For the first time, fear gripped her. If he could do damage in one charge like that, even with her advanced cybernetics then…

She couldn't let him get to Garrus.

Garm let her drop back to the ground, turning back toward his turian enemy, and she landed hard on her knees, bruised ribs protesting as she tried to breathe. Blood roared in her ears as she staggered to her feet and threw herself at the krogan's back. Another flash of biotics and she delivered two quick blows just above his armor before jumping out of reach.

"Remind me to thank you for this later, Archangel," she yelled at him, rolling away from Garm's shotgun blast. Ouch, bad idea. She emptied her last clip into his armor. Son of a bitch…

The sound of a rifle discharging echoed in the small space and she winced at the sound. Garm recoiled as the round hit and she let off another biotic pulse. Her amp tingled and she was beginning to feel the wear and tear of using that much biotic energy. Her muscles ached and she felt a muffled pounding at the base of her skull. So part of me is still human after all.

"How 'bout I buy you a drink instead?" he quipped, firing another round and she couldn't help but smile. She'd missed his humor.

"Deal." She charged out of cover, throwing as much biotic energy into her attack as she flew at the krogan. Her whole body whined in protest as she and the krogan tumbled across the floor, landing in a heap just below the window. When he didn't rise, she carefully stood and set her hands on her knees, panting. Any other time, the weakness would have been infuriating but now it made her almost giddy. Never thought I'd be so happy to almost fail.

"Nice work, Shepard. He barely got to me," Garrus said, approaching.

She smiled at him, panting and straightened. "That's because he was too busy coming after me," she laughed. A wince flashed across her face and she put a hand to her ribs as Miranda and Jacob ran in.

"You're hurt."

"Just a bruise," she deflected, pushing his hand away when he tried to help her. In truth, the ache in her ribs was welcome. She'd rather be in pain and alive than feel empty. "I'll be fine. Look, we took out Garm and his Blood Pack. What's left?"

Garrus seemed unconvinced but didn't press, looking back to the bridge. That damn bridge… If it wasn't rubble by the time they left, she would be disappointed.

"Just the Blue Suns. Tarak's got the biggest group, but nothing we haven't faced before." He rubbed the side of his face absently and she was shocked by how exhausted he looked. The metaphor "death warmed over" came to mind, but she shoved it away. No, that's me.

"Then I say we take our chances and make a break for it."

"Agreed. We—"

"Archangel!" All four of them spun, staring at the gunship that loomed through the window before diving to cover. "You think you can fuck with the Blue Suns!" the voice boomed out.

Shit…

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