Area 51, Nevada
"Mr. Shepard?" asked Major Mitchell in the preparation room outside of the medical examination room.
"Yes?" asked Shepard, scrubbing his forearms with an iodine soap.
"There's a helicopter outside of The Box requesting permission to land at Area Fifty-One," said Mitchell.
"Um, and you came to me why?" asked Shepard.
"It's going by the call sign 'Cerberus Two'," said Mitchell. "The President requested that I ask you to clarify."
"That would be my sister," said Shepard, a smile on his face. While he didn't know what the next day would hold, the temporal duplicate that was Winona Black heavily implied that he'd survive to play her part. "She's likely bringing some supplies and expert techno-thaumaturgical advice. I noticed how little defense Dreamland had when we arrived, not even a SAM site, at least not a visible one, and a mere squadron of Hornets. I sent her a message when we landed, just before we got off of Air Force One, asking her, if she could, to bring some. That's be both defensive weaponry and expert advice."
"But we're a secret facility," insisted Mitchell.
"A secret facility that I knew about, and that a few hundred RVs from California just drove up to. Plus, if we mess with that Scout Ship down there, we might just alert them to the fact that we're here with it. It might not, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I've survived nearly forty-five years on this rock, I'd like to go for another hundred more before I'm through," explained Shepard.
"Okay … I'll inform the President," said Mitchell, who left Shepard to his pre-biopsy cleaning.
Five minutes later, and Shepard joined Okun and a pair of Area Fifty-One medical technicians, preparing to open the bio-mechanical suit. While the others wore stereotypical blue gowns and caps, aside from Okun abstaining from the cap, Shepard wore a darker blue medical gown, with brown pinstripes, the opposite pattern of the suit he'd been wearing since meeting David outside of new destroyed cable building a day before. It had, of course, been conjured just for this occasion. While potions were kept in the various expanded pockets, a bit of conjuration and transmutation was all he needed for his Doctor's Scrubs.
"Alright, life support monitors recording," declared Okun.
"So, if we fuck up, it'll all be on tape," said one of the medical technicians.
"Come on, come on, come on," insisted Okun impatiently. "Let's get this bio-mechanical suit off him."
The trio of light blue gowns huddled around the head, while Shepard took to patrolling around the exterior of the cluster of medical equipment, wand, another one summoned from the Demense, held lightly in hand.
"Are you planning on helping?" asked Okun to Shepard.
"I've put a basic mind protection ward in place," Shepard explained. "Should dampen any telepathy, magical or otherwise, though as long as it stays unconscious, we should be fine."
"And if it wakes up?" asked a technician.
"I stun it, and if that doesn't work, I'll kill it," said Shepard, lying. He had no plans on stunning the alien, and a couple of plans on how to kill it, most of which involved petrifying it and then removing its soul.
And he knew it had a soul, as a lich, nobodez, even in the body of Shepard, could practically taste the souls in the room. All of the humans were mundane, not a spark of magic in them, but the alien, it was different, even more different than goblins, giants, or werewolves. Even more different than the mockery of a soul that vampires had, or the pale shadow that made up ghosts. No, while the alien did have a soul, it was new and different, and nobodez just wanted an excuse to taste it.
"Whatever," said Okun. He turned back to the operation, "Can I get a spreader in here?"
The procedure proceeded apace with what Shepard expected. The headpiece of the suit snapped open unexpectedly, causing the others to jump back, and for Shepard to prepare. A bubble-headed charm protected him from the smell. It also allowed him to notice the slight twitching of one of the tentacles.
As Okun pulled back the last layer of the suit, revealing the alien face, Shepard got anxious, knowing what was to come.
"The arm is moving," said one of the technicians, taking a step back from the table.
Shepard brought up his wand, but didn't have a clear line of sight on the alien, not wanting to risk hitting the suit and then having to re-cast the spell. Or, at least appearing to think so.
Then, the alien's eyes opened, and all hell broke loose. The alien snaped the restraints, and the tentacles from its back of the suit begin to really whip around. Shepard, furthest away, was able to keep out of the fray, though was still unable to target the alien itself. First one technician got hit, slammed across the room, and then another, leaving only Okun and Shepard.
Okun stepped back, though due to the ward, wasn't being mentally assaulted by the alien's telepathy.
"Come at me," said Shepard, standing between he alien in the suit and the glass wall into the Vault. He then sent a crimson stunner at the alien, impacting the suit, and as expected, not affecting the alien itself, even the tentacles kept flailing.
The alien turned to face Shepard, turning away from Okun. Shepard could feel the telepathy slam into his occlumency barriers, but not go further.
Just as that happened, the President, Major Mitchell, and Secretary Nimzicki ented the Vault, the observation windows allowing them to see into the room with the alien and Shepard.
Shepard sent a petrification spell at the alien, this time hitting the grey body, and the bio-mechanical suit stoped, standing at its full height in the middle of the room.
"My name is James Tiberius Shepard, you invaded my planet" said Shepard, walking confidently up to the alien. He then reached out, and touched the alien's exposed skin,"Prepare to die".
Shepard nearly passed out from absorbing the alien's soul, the experience radically different from any of the souls he'd devoured so far. All of them had been human, of one sort or another, but this one truly was alien, and as the arcane magic that allowed the lich to absorb the souls of others encountered the first new thing it's encountered, even more new and different than the first soul of Alex Smith nearly sixteen years ago, Shepard fell to his knees, his wand, clutched lightly in the hand he'd not touched the alien with, falling to the floor and rolling away.
Shepard was in a haze, and barely noticed the sound of Major Mitchell shooting through the glass, or jumping down to the floor. He did, though, as he fell over, unconscious, notice the looks on the President and Nimzicki. Whitmore was surprised, but Nimzicki looked satisfied.
