Shepard had to smile as his favorite pilot's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "EDI!" exclaimed Joker as he reached out to grab the glowing orb in front of him. Everyone then watched as he placed a puckered up kiss on what they assumed to be her face before hugging her to his chest. "Damn girl, I've missed you." EDI's light dimmed just a bit to a warm glow to indicate a serene mood. As she was busy being snuggled, Legion was experiencing several pokes from Kaidan as Shepard watched.
"But I thought all the AI had been taken offline?" Kaidan asked as he finally put his finger down when turning towards the commander.
"Death is not the same for synthetics as it is for organics," Legion commented as he moved to hover just above Shepard's right shoulder. Joker also finally realized that was strange for EDI to be back in one piece.
"That's right. As soon as the Crucible activated, your body and the AI core both went offline. All of the Geth stopped responding as well. What exactly happened to you guys?" EDI's orb turned upward to focus its center beam on Jeff's face briefly before turning away. Her light then dimmed a bit more in sadness.
"I did die, Jeff," she said quietly. "There was…darkness and I felt…cold."
"You felt something?" Joker asked as he looked down upon her. The orb gave a small nod.
"Yes," she admitted. "It was very frightening, but then I heard countless voices. I couldn't distinguish any of them until I heard Legion's specifically. He found me."
"Huh. So what? There's like a robot heaven?" EDI's orb wiggled to snuggle onto Joker's chest.
"Heaven would not be the word I would use. Heaven indicates hope and happiness in the afterlife. This place had neither," she whispered before perking up. "However, when I followed Legion's voice, I remerged inside Shepard's onmi-tool. For some reason, we were both drawn to the same place."
"And that's when I heard them talking to me. I woke up from whatever stasis I was in and they cracked the security so I could escape," Shepard concluded. "That's when I had to fight my way through the Leviathan-indoctrinated forces. They manage to scrape me off the ground and hold me in some underground lab in London." Shepard then tapped his omni-tool to change the projected image on the table to one of the Leviathan artifact orbs along with some diagram notes. "They were shipping these in Alliance crates to different bases while in uniforms."
"Wait a minute, Commander," interrupted Cortez. "Are you telling me that they are making sleeper cells within the military?"
"Man, that is not good," added Vega. "How are we supposed to know who's on our side?"
"Same question I had to ask myself for those weeks I was hiding out, Lieutenant," said Shepard with a sigh as he placed his palms back onto the table so that he could lean over with his head down. "I had EDI trying to access old Cerberus records to see if they had any information we could use based on their indoctrination experiments while Legion monitored Alliance communications."
"That's when I was able to access the previously locked Project Lazarus files, which was attached to a file 'Code Name: Hunter' with a subject named John Shepard. I thought it was more than a coincidence that the name was the same as the commander's", EDI added as she finally moved away from Joker's body to float toward Shiro. The quiet man gave a nod at her approach.
"Yes," Shiro said as he gave her a teasing poke. "And with my ability to interface directly, we had a nice long chat."
"Indeed, I was able to learn many embarrassing facts about our fearless leader!" EDI then giggled.
"So," Kyo finally spoke as he was trying his best to understand that there was both a living AI and a Geth now in the room. "You were expecting me and then fed me information so I would find Shepard's friends?"
"Wait. Just…wait," Kaidan said as he waved his hands in an attempt to get everyone to be quiet. "So YOU were behind all of this? Have you been following us this whole time?!" he asked his lover while looking a bit hurt about it. Shepard glanced over without moving his head for a moment, but looked away soon afterward.
"I've been onboard since Jupiter, Kaidan," he then admitted.
"I...Argh!" Kaidan responded as he clinched a glowing fist as his temper rose. He then began to pace back and forth before finally pointing at Shepard with a wagging finger. "Damnit! I knew it! I knew I wasn't going crazy! You were in my room!" Shepard chuckled then as he pushed himself off of the table to face his accuser.
"First of all, that's MY room. "
"Oh, you know what I mean. What the hell did you hit me with that last time?" Kaidan asked before his voice lowered as he got as closer to Shepard. "Did…Did we really….you know?" Shepard only laughed a bit more before giving a coy shrug.
"No idea what you're talking about," he said then turned to face the meeting again. "At any rate, that pretty much sums it up. Even though the events on Rannoch didn't go as I planned, we still have a job to do people." This was an excellent point that Liara wanted to bring up.
"Shepard, why were we on Rannoch in the first place?" she asked. "We were told that Shiro needed to boost his tracking signal to find you, but he obviously already knew where you were." Legion's orb moved to float in front of the doctor's face to address her question.
"That was my suggestion, Liara", he said. "I wished to both acquire a new mobile platform as well as use the Geth signal towers to track a frequency I copied from the Leviathan-indoctrinated forces; the wave they use from their artifact to enlist others."
"I managed to get the signal tracked, but we didn't manage to get you a new body," sighed Shiro as he typed at his omni-tool. "Sending it to you now, EDI." As the data transmitted, EDI glowed brightly for a second before returning to normal.
"Data received. Shepard, permission to integrate back into the Normandy's systems?"
"It's your home, EDI. You don't have to ask me," Shepard smiled.
"Damn right she doesn't!" teased Joker who decided that it was time to take his leave. "Come on, babe. I'll walk with you back to the AI core."
"Thank you, Jeff", she responded as the odd couple walked out of the room. Shepard watched with a grin before turning to the rest of the crew.
"Well, that's it. We wait for EDI to get that tracker up. Dismissed." As the group shuffled out , Liara and Kaidan hung back with Shepard. While the major had wanted to get some private time in with the commander, Liara moved to the doorway before calling out.
"Kaidan, may I speak to you in private for a moment?" This interrupted Kaidan and Shepard's low spoken conversation. The hazel eyes turned to look at the asari, but only briefly before turning back. Shepard, however, turned his face entirely to look at Liara before glancing back at Kaidan.
"I'll meet you upstairs then," Shepard said as he moved away from the table. Kaidan sighed, giving a reluctant nod.
"Yeah, I'll be up there in a minute."
"Liara," Shepard smiled to both acknowledge her in passing and as a way to say goodbye. She nodded to her friend and watched him head towards the elevator before stepping into the room, making sure to lock the door. Kaidan watched her closely as he leaned against the large table with his head down.
"Kaidan, I think now will be a good time to talk," the blue woman said timidly while fidgeting. She was close enough to him to feel nervous, but at least out of arm's length.
"About what, exactly?" Kaidan's tone had changed from pleasant to irate just that quickly. She had that affect it seemed.
"You know very well about what. Shepard has the right to know about…"
"There's nothing to tell, Liara," Kaidan said as he finally looked up at her. The usual kindness in his eyes was long gone and instead stared daggers at her frame. Clearing her throat, Liara clenched her fists as she gained some courage for her defense.
"That's not true and you know it. We need to tell him about what we had…" But she was cut off again as Kaidan clenched his fists and slammed them down on the tabletop.
"No, you had something and I had something before you decided to take what wasn't yours!"
"I already apologized for that, but that doesn't mean I didn't…"
"An apology isn't going to make up for what you did. Just let it go. Shepard doesn't need to know because it never happened!"
"Well, if you don't have it in you to tell him yourself, then I will," Liara answered defiantly as she turned to walk away. As she did, Kaidan reached out to grab her arm. Roughly, he pulled her back towards him to lean his face extremely close to hers.
"I swear to God, Liara. Don't do something that you'll regret." Flaring her biotics, the asari roughly pulled away.
"I'd never thought I'd see you this way, Kaidan." She looked both disgusted and saddened at his behavior as her upper arm throbbed painfully where he had grabbed her. There was a silence between the both of them as Kaidan put a hand to his face to calm his anger. His fingers rubbed his eyes before running to his chin.
"Fine, I'll tell him," he finally said while moving towards the door. As he got to it, he then stopped to turn to face her once again. "But I never want to see you again, regardless of what Shepard does."
"But that's not up to you to decide. It's Shepar-"
"I'm dead serious, Liara. Regardless of what happens, don't ever speak to me again." He then left the room, leaving the woman alone and deeply wounded. There was truth to Kaidan's words and it hurt enough to force her to find a chair so that she could cry into an open palm. Outside the door, he could hear her sobs, which impacted him more than he wanted them to. Still, he had promised to meet Shepard up in their room, but what he had originally planned on saying had suddenly changed.
Upstairs, Shepard had been anxiously waiting for Kaidan to arrive. He had taken off his hoodie, which had been tossed carelessly onto the back of the sofa, and had taken a seat on the edge of the bed. He was certain that he had quite a bit more explaining to do in regards to his stalking and new youthful appearance. Sadly, he only had an explanation for one of those things. As he sat there rubbing his sad excuse for beard stubble, Kaidan finally came in through the sliding door. Shepard stood to greet him but suddenly noticed Kaidan's weary expression. He then looked concerned as he approached.
"Something wrong?" asked Shepard, putting a hand on Kaidan's shoulder. His eye contact was avoided. "Kaidan?"
"Shepard," he responded, finally looking back. "We need to talk."
"Uh oh," Shepard laughed nervously. "That's never a good sign."