A/N: I just want to give a huge thank you Yestare and Theodur for their continued support of this story, feedback and always been there if I've needed to bounce an idea off of someone.
Chapter 26 - The Illusive Man
"So what did happen to my crew?" Shepard asked as she reluctantly stripped out of the 'borrowed' hard-suit.
"The SSV Aristotle picked the survivors up about twelve hours after they abandoned ship. Anderson had taken personal command of the vessel to rescue his old crew. I heard it ruffled more than a few of Ambassador Udina's feathers," Miranda answered from outside of the screen.
"You should have seen his face when I recommended the Captain for the Councilor position rather than him," Jane snorted with laughter. "I take it my crew's all still alive and well then? Liara?"
"I'm afraid I don't have information on any of them," Miranda admitted. "I thought I heard something about you and the asari though. I believe she went into the information business, but you'd need to ask the Illusive Man for details."
"Does the whole galaxy know about us?" Shepard groaned.
"I did a lot of digging into your background while I was rebuilding you. We needed to ensure than when we brought you back, you were actually you," Miranda explained, growing increasingly impatient. "Are you ready yet?"
"Just about, are you still not used to me actually being alive yet?" Shepard laughed as she stepped out from behind the screen in a basic hospital gown. "How much hardware have you actually put in me?"
"I'll run you through everything you need to know once I know it, and you, are still working properly. Can you just lie down on the bed... please?" Miranda requested.
"Fine," Jane sighed as she placed herself on the bed attached to a large scanner. With an occupant now in the bed, a ring of sensors began making passes over the full length of Shepard's body."Am I in working order?"
"Nothing looks drastically wrong. Have you felt a lot of pain since you woke up?"
"Well, my legs refused to work initially, but I haven't had a problem since. My skin feels like it's scorching hot all the time though."
"The muscle cramps are hardly surprising, although we did stimulate your muscles while you were asleep, figured you weren't a lot of use without your physical condition, and we don't have the time to let you train for months on end."
"Look, fine, whatever, thanks," Shepard said as she grew increasingly annoyed. "Could you please just tell me what you've done to me?"
"Marines aren't big on patience, huh?" Miranda rolled her eyes as she slid off her stool. "There's a couple of mirrors in the corner so you can actually get a decent look. You... might want to brace yourself for it."
Shepard followed Miranda across the small med bay towards a curtained off section on the far side. She slipped behind it, finding six mirrors arranged in a circle around her. She was about to drop the gown when Miranda slipped through the curtain behind her. "Do you mind?"
"Do you want me to talk you through it or not?" Miranda snapped crossing her arms.
"Great bedside manner," Jane drawled sarcastically.
"I'll go if you insist," Miranda continued in her sharp tone.
"No, I'm sure you've poked and prodded every inch of me already."
"Something like that, unless you'd rather I'd left you dead?"
"Let's just get this over and done with." Jane shut her eyes as she slipped the gown off, letting it fall to the floor. She took a deep breath before cautiously opening her eyes.
"So where do you want to start?" Miranda inquired, sounding a little more cautious, aware of the mess Shepard's body still appeared to be.
"Let's start with the face and work our way down," Shepard suggested as she stared at her own eyes in the mirror in front of her. "What's with the glowing eye socket?"
"Both eyes have had a few minor improvements. You should find you can see better in the dark. You should also be able to look at bright lights without suffering any permanent damage, stars for example."
"Great... should level the playing field since I glow in the dark now," Jane grumbled. "What about the jaw?"
"Boring really, it's not even worth mentioning," Miranda shrugged. "Heart and lungs are a lot more interesting."
Shepard flinched at the visible glow of her heart through her own chest and ribcage, the red light from her implants around it pulsing with each heartbeat. "Just what I want to hear, I'm interesting to someone that has actually dissected me."
Miranda scowled back at her. "You don't want to make this easy, do you?"
"What do you think?" Shepard shouted back. "You came along, dug me out of the ground, and decided to play God!"
"Fine, I'll speed things up. Your heart should be able to manage around two-hundred and fifty beats per minute for extended periods, and you lungs have been adjusted to supply enough oxygen, so you should have better muscle endurance. The back is where it really gets interesting though."
Shepard couldn't stop herself from gasping when she tilted her head to find her back in one of the mirrors. Her spine was lit up with light penetrating the skin from the base of the skull down to her tailbone.
"Most of that is there to make sure you don't end up experiencing random nerve impulses, since the spinal cord is in less than ideal condition. Now, this large patch of red up here," Miranda observed before she pressed a finger against the back of Shepard's neck and made her jump at the cold, unexpected touch. "This is your new prototype bio-amp and biotic implants."
"But I'm not a biotic?" Shepard questioned.
"You weren't a biotic," Miranda amended, "That was probably the easiest surgery we had to perform."
"But... you can't just make people into biotics!" Shepard said looking shocked.
"Turns out the procedure has been around for over a millennium, you just don't know it. The krogan you were working with against Saren went through the same operation," Miranda shrugged casually.
"It isn't possible. If they could intentionally give people biotic abilities, the militaries would be full of soldiers with biotics," Shepard stated out of denial. "You can't have done this!"
"I assure you, we did. The procedure is remarkably simple. The only thing stopping it from being used widely is that it results in the death of the patient because of the damage to the nervous system," Miranda explained, trying to keep the marine from growing increasingly angry. "The only species that can survive it is the krogan."
"So you just figured, since I was already dead, why not?! What else could possibly go wrong?!" Jane shouted as she snapped around to face Miranda. Shepard glared at the paler human for a moment before taking a deep breath and relaxing her stance slightly. Cautiously, she turned back to facing the mirrors. "Is there anything else left on this list of Frankenstein's wonders?" she growled.
"There's a few hundred-thousand nanites throughout various systems in your body, making sure nothing stops working. They're tasked with maintaining your organic and synthetic parts, as well as updating your implants, should the need emerge. " Miranda finished, forcing herself to try and regain her usual confidence.
"Great, an army of work drones to fix my every grazed knee," Jane laughed sarcastically, half attempting to impersonate a child.
"You know, after bringing you back and rebuilding you, the least you could do would be to say thank you," Miranda scolded as she crossed her arms.
"Well thank you," Shepard droned in a flat voice, "but I didn't ask for this. I wasn't even consulted. Now I wake up and find you've been doing God fucking knows what to me in my sleep."
"That would have been a little difficult to ask, you were the late Commander Shepard at the time."
"Well perhaps you should have left me that way!" Jane shouted angrily, unable to keep her hands from forming fists.
"I'll go see if your asari girlfriend still has a burial plot for you," Miranda announced before one of Shepard's fists collided with her jaw. She stumbled backwards against a mirror, while an intimidating nude woman advanced towards her.
"You don't get to talk about Liara!" Shepard spat before grabbing her gown and walking out of the curtain. "And tell me you at least got me a change of clothes."
"There's a standard uniform on the table," Miranda replied quietly as she nursed her jaw, emerging from the curtain behind Shepard. "Don't think you broke anything."
"Shame," Shepard muttered to herself before disappearing behind a curtain to change. "Anything else I should be aware of?" she asked after several moments of silence.
Miranda looked up from the instant cold pack she'd fished out of one of the med bay's draws. "I don't get an apology first?"
"Were you planning on giving me one?" Shepard asked.
Miranda snapped a rod in the middle of the bag. "Fair enough," she conceded. "The nanites were tasked with repairing the damage to your spine when I was forced to wake you up. The last estimate on them finishing was in a week, but now you're up and about, we could be talking a month of more. From what the scan showed, that's probably why your skin feels hot."
"So... what about all of these... scars, wounds, what do I even call them?" Shepard asked as she stepped out from behind the curtain in a slightly creased Cerberus uniform. She gave a small smile when she saw Miranda with an ice pack at her jaw.
"Honestly, I have no idea. Everything else has healed so far, but we're in completely uncharted territory," Miranda admitted. "Is there anything else you would like me to cover?"
"Yes! Was this really necessary?!" Jane demanded as she pointed to her shaven head.
"You've only actually been able to grow hair for the past two months. Before that you didn't have enough intact skin, let alone hair follicles. After that, we removed it to prevent anything growing in it. The last thing we wanted was an infection," Miranda explained. "So, if that's everything, I'll see if I can find some accommodation for you."
"I thought the Illusive Man wanted to speak with me?"
"When he's ready." Miranda stated as she led Shepard from the med bay.
Shepard looked up at the sound of the doorbell ringing. "Who is it?"
To Shepard's surprise, the station's crew appeared to be housed in small, individual apartments. This made it all the more shocking that she hadn't seen another living soul, apart from Miranda and Jacob, since she arrived.
After being shown to an empty room where she could stay, Jane had tried to rest. Every muscle in her body had been aching with exhaustion ever since she had left the first station. Unfortunately, despite the chance for her to rest, her body had refused to let her sleep. After finally deciding that sleep simply wasn't going to happen, she had settled for simply staring at the darkened ceiling, until someone came and interrupted her.
"It's Jacob, the Illusive Man is ready to speak with you," a voice shouted through the door.
"What time is it?" Shepard shouted back as she slid off the bunk.
"About seven a.m. station time. That's Earth UTC," Jacob replied before the door slid open in front of him.
"Can I at least get some breakfast first, I'm not very diplomatic before my morning cup of..." Jane yawned, pausing as Jacob revealed a large coffee cup almost on cue, "...coffee. Miranda?" she groaned, quickly accepting the coffee. "This is starting to get creepy."
"We good to go then?" Jacob asked as Shepard took her first sip.
"Lead away," Jane said happily before drinking a large mouthful.
Once again, the station's white corridors were deserted, although it was only a short walk before Jacob was ushering her into a small room down its own flight of stairs. The room appeared to be a perfect cube, with a large black disk set into the floor as the only feature. Unsure of what else to do, she stepped onto the disk in the middle of the room. The plate began to hum as she reached the middle of it, before a mesh of light began to rise around the edge. I guess I'm just not important enough to meet in person.
The lights around her finally stopped above her head, before it disappeared, replaced with the image of another room. A single man sat in front of her, cast in shadow by the dim light from an immense star. The carefully filtered light reflected off the room's black, reflective surfaces, creating the eerie illusion that they were both outside, in the void of space. Really trying hard for the illusive part.
"Commander Shepard," the man said in way of a greeting, before taking a drag on a cigarette.
Does anyone seriously smoke anymore? "Illusive Man. I thought we'd be meeting face-to-face," Jane complained as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"A necessary precaution," he stated, before taking another drag, "not uncommon for people that know what you and I know. Besides, it's not possible for me to leave at the minute."
"Comfortable chair?" Jane asked in a mocking tone. "So just why am I here? I died, and from what I hear, you spent a fortune to bring me back. Had my own giant space station and everything, not to mention the fancy, glowing implants."
"You're here for the defense and preservation of humanity. I didn't spent two years and billions of credits bringing you back for you to serve as a common soldier. But humanity is up against the greatest threat of our brief existence," the Illusive Man hinted.
"The reapers," Shepard concluded.
"Good to see your memories are still intact. How are you feeling?"
"You don't get to ask me those kinds of questions!" Shepard stated adamantly.
"Cerberus isn't as evil like you believe. You and I are on the same side; we just have different methods," the Illusive Man explained.
"The method is just as important as the result!"
"There's no point in a method that you can't guarantee to work," he countered.
"Let's cut through the crap, what are the reapers doing that made you decide to bring me back?" Jane asked sternly.
"We had already realized that we couldn't afford to lose you before you died. Humanity needs you. So, we made preparations. We're at war, and wars need leaders. The problem is, no one dares to admit that the reapers exist. Now though, we're under attack, and we all need you," the Illusive Man explained.
"If the reapers were attacking, no one would be able to deny it. They have enough firepower to overrun the entire galaxy," Shepard declared.
"It's not the reapers, not directly, but they are involved. Entire colonies are disappearing. Human colonies. We believe that someone is working for the reapers, just like Saren and the geth worked for Sovereign. You've seen it yourself. You bested all of them. That's only one reason why we had to bring you back."
"Why though?" Jane questioned. "You could have trained an entire army for what you spent on me. I didn't do anything someone else couldn't."
The Illusive man rose from his seat and approached Shepard. "You're unique. Not just in ability or what you've experienced, but in what you represent. You stood for humanity at a key moment. You're more than a soldier; you're a symbol. And, I don't know if the reapers fear death, but you killed one of them. They have to respect that."
"Alright, I might be willing to work with you, but I'm going to need some proof. Prove to me that the reapers are involved. Otherwise, I'm going back to the Alliance!" Shepard asserted.
"Miranda said you would be reluctant to trust us," the Illusive man said smugly as he returned to his seat. "That's why I waited until now to speak to you. I have a shuttle waiting to take you to Freedom's Progress, the latest colony to be abducted. Miranda and Jacob will brief you on route. I believe Miranda has a gift for you that might be helpful."
There's no way you're going to be able to buy me. "Is this a volunteer job, or am I being volunteered?" Jane asked as she gave him an accusing glare. Of course, if I try to leave, you'll probably just have me thrown in a cell and tortured until I agree to help.
"You always have a choice, Shepard. If the evidence we're both looking for isn't there, we can part ways. But first, go to Freedom's Progress. Find any clues you can. Who's abducting the colonies? What is their connection to the reapers? I brought you back, it's up to you to do the rest," he paused before putting out his cigarette and closing the comm link.
Sure, just dump it all on me. I'd love to help you out, Jane groaned internally as she walked back up the steps, towards where Jacob had left her. And he didn't even give me the chance to ask him anything.
"What did you think?" Jacob asked as Shepard came into view up the stairs.
Shepard paused once she reached the top of the stairs. "He certainly lives up to his name. I just don't get how you ended up working for him?"
Jacob began walking along the corridor, waving for Shepard to follow him. "Originally I was in the Alliance, but in the end I guess I got tired of never making a difference. So much of what we did seemed pointless. I thought things would change after the attack on the Citadel and humanity was finally invited to join the Council, but nothing changed. Politics, bureaucracy, same bullshit, different leaders. Cerberus is different. When colonies go missing, we don't commission a team to write a report to figure out what the hell to do about it. We just go and find out."
"Ye, but-" Jane started before Miranda spotted them from the gathering area at the docking bay they had been heading for.
"Ah, Shepard, glad you're here," she shouted happily as the two of them entered the room. "We've got something for you, one of Cerberus's prototypes." She patted the large box beside her, reaching well above her head. Two doors making up the front of the container opened to reveal a gleaming, heavy hard suit, painted in the white, gold and black of Cerberus.
"Miranda, you shouldn't have," Shepard said, carefully trying to restrain her response.
"It's nothing really," Miranda replied happily. "The development team has been trying to find someone suitable to field test it for months, so I got them to adjust it to your size."
"No, I mean you really shouldn't have. It's a tin can." Jane grabbed the front of the helmet's face plate, and tried to turn it on the neck. "Confined vision, what looks like, at most, twenty degrees of rotation on the head. The arms don't look like they move up past the shoulder," she complained again as she lifted one of the arms. "And don't even get me started on how much this thing must weigh. It's a death trap," Shepard stated as she lifted the suit from its container, barely managing to hold it before dropping it on the floor and pulling a knife from its belt. "Jacob, be a dear and go fetch me the hard-suit I was wearing when we got here."
"Err, of course Commander," Jacob replied, before quickly running off.
Miranda watched him leave before looking back at Shepard, her jaw falling slack, "Shepard, what are you doing?" she snapped at the sight of Jane using the knife to pry the armour apart.
"I'm trying to use this pile of crap, that you call a prototype, to improve the guard's hard-suit so I don't get killed if we run into a gunfight ," Jane answered mockingly without looking up from the armour. "Why, what are you doing? Didn't the Illusive Man say you were meant to be briefing me?"
Miranda crossed her arms, holding herself back from doing anything she might regret. "Jacob and I are meant to do that during the flight to the colony."
"So, what is your problem with me then?" Jane asked casually as she started throwing plates of armour across the room.
"My problem is you!" Miranda replied, slightly louder than she had intended. "So far, you've been bossy, ungrateful and downright rude."
Shepard couldn't stop herself from snorting with laughter, "And you've been a shining example of humanity in comparison, huh?"
"I earned my position here, Shepard. I earned leadership."
"And being given a free rein over reconstructing me and near unlimited resources just wasn't enough for you?" Jane laughed as she worked at pulling the armour's kinetic barrier generator out.
"Hardly, the Illusive Man kept a very close watch on the Lazarus project. Any change had to go through him," the dark haired woman groaned.
"So, what would you have done differently?"
"For starters, I would have implanted you with a control chip," Miranda mused.
"Ah, you wanted me to be your dancing monkey on a leash," Jane stated as she gave Miranda a threatening look.
"I felt we needed some way to control you. The Illusive Man disagreed, he believed that we needed to ensure that we brought you back exactly the way you were, and that a control chip risked altering your personality."
"In that case, I'm glad he was in charge, although it didn't seem to worry him about changing anything else. Biotics, cybernetic implants. Where exactly did he draw the line?" Shepard questioned accusingly.
"Nothing that would alter your personality, but he allowed changes that would make you a better soldier, and hopefully, help you to survive longer," Miranda explained. "I just wish he would have let me make you a little more-"
"Sorry, Commander, it's already been sent for repair," Jacob shouted happily as he re-entered the viewing area. "I did manage to get you one of the spare suits from the armoury though. Should be identical, minus the bullet holes."
"That'll be just great. Thanks, Jacob. I'll put this together on the shuttle." Jane said while she started gathering up components she had pried out of the unwieldy hard suit. "If you feel like being useful for once Miranda, you can make sure there's one of whatever armour the Alliance now gives out to its N-sevens here when we get back."
"I'll see to it," Miranda begrudgingly replied as the three of them moved towards the shuttle bay.
"And some breakfast on the shuttle would be great!"
"What did Cerberus find at the other colonies that have disappeared?" Jane asked as she finished of the breakfast field ration she had dug out of one of the shuttle's survival kits.
"Nothing," Jacob shrugged. "No signs of attack, no corpses. Not even any unusual genetic material. Everyone just disappeared, into thin air, and we're left without any clues about what our target is, or who to go after."
"Are you sure you're both comfortable obeying my orders? I don't need to worry about you disobeying me at a crucial moment do I?" Jane asked as she adjusted her slightly ill-fitting armour.
"We didn't bring you back from the dead just to second-guess you, Commander. The Illusive Man says you're in charge, so you're in charge," Jacob answered like a true soldier.
Shepard gave him a nod of approval, before looking at the silent woman sat on the other side of the cabin. "Miranda?"
"I know who's in charge of this mission, I'll do as you tell me," the woman begrudgingly answered.
"Good. Our primary objective is to locate and assist any survivors that might be down there." Jane commanded. "Secondary to that, we-"
Miranda cut in, unable to resist contradicting Shepard. "But there haven't been any survivors at any of-"
"Miranda, Shut up!" Jane snapped, knocking the other woman off her stride and spreading a look of shock over her face. "Secondly, if we don't find anyone that can tell us what happened, we search for physical evidence of the attackers."
"Understood, Commander," Jacob replied, while Miranda barely acknowledged her.
"Let's get moving then."