A heartbeat. The ground falling away beneath her feet.
Shepard slithered backwards, her feet losing purchase, and she knew there was no other choice. If she didn't jump, she would die.
She gathered herself again and jumped.
For a moment she was airborne. Shrapnel tumbled past. In the distance she could see the mountains beneath a darkening sky. Then she hit the platform hard, catching a flash of blue as the breath was knocked out of her, and she came to a messy halt.
"Spirits, Shepard."
Shepard lifted her head find Garrus spread eagled beneath her. His visor looked damaged. It was hard to tell with his armour.
"Shit, I'm sorry. Are you—?"
"I'm fine," Garrus said, getting slowly to his feet and checking himself over. "I ate a rocket remember. I think I can handle you throwing yourself at me."
"Vakarian, if I ever throw myself at you, you'll know."
There was the sound of approaching footsteps, and all three of them raised their guns.
Archer emerged from the dust cloud with his arms held aloft. "Hold your fire; it's me, Doctor Archer."
"Oh good," Shepard muttered. "Doctor, maybe you could explain what the hell is going on here."
"Man's reach exceeding his grasp. Come on, I'll explain."
-0-0-0-0-
The facility was quiet. Archer fidgeted beneath their gaze, twiddling his thumbs as he faced them.
Garrus folded his arms and gave him the look he usually reserved for Miranda. Tali's posture was one of disgust. Shepard leant back against the side, and let him talk.
"This is, or was, Project Overlord. An attempt to gain influence over the geth by interfacing a human mind with a VI," Archer said, his gaze sliding away. "The results have been less than satisfactory."
"You call the slaughter of your entire facility less than satisfactory?" Garrus said, his voice heavy with derision. "I'd call it mass murder."
"It wasn't a complete failure." Archer switched his gaze to the human, hoping for some sympathy no doubt.
Shepard stared at him, and he had enough sense to look down at his hands.
"Why not?" Shepard asked.
"We did succeed, at least partially. My brother volunteered to serve as a test subject, but his mind couldn't handle the VI connection."
His own brother.
"He's like a virus now," Archer continued. "Infecting our networks and seizing control of any technology he finds. It's why you had to destroy the dish. Imagine if his programme got off world."
"You did this to your brother?" Shepard heard her voice, too loud in her ears, and she caught Garrus looking at her from the corner of her eye. "You're saying he's like a virus? And you sit there, acting as though none of this is your fault?"
"This is valuable work, he—"
"What is his name?" Shepard asked quietly, approaching his chair.
Archer's mouth flapped open.
She leant into his face. "What is his name?"
"D…David."
"How do we help David? Can we shut this down?"
"David has fortified himself in the main laboratory at Atlas Station. It's in lockdown now. To enter you need to manually override security from our facilities in the Prometheus and Vulcan stations."
Shepard walked out of the room, unwilling to hear any more from that sorry excuse of a man. David's scream followed them down the corridor.
-0-0-0-0-
She was angry, angrier than she'd been in a long time. Family were precious, and the fact that this man had used his so lightly made her furious.
"Shepard?"
"What?" She checked her omni-tool, and pushed on through the darkness with Garrus and Tali in tow.
"What are we going to do with him?" Garrus asked, his voice echoing through the empty corridors of the geth ship.
"David?"
"No. Archer. Cerberus can't get away with this crap. They've pulled too many stunts like this, and look where it's got them."
Shepard paused and listened hard. There was nothing but the steady drip of water.
Where had it got them exactly? They had her fighting for them, along with some of the most dangerous individuals in the galaxy, and they had a credible threat to the Collectors. If their goal was to protect humans then in this they had succeeded.
She thought back to the corpses they'd found and wondered if they would have agreed. If their families would agree.
"Let's focus on David. We can figure out the rest later," Shepard said, glancing down the corridor marked on her omni-tool.
The floor reflected their lights back at them, and it took her a second to realize they were staring at water.
"Oh, great," Tali said. "As if this place wasn't bad enough. I keep expecting the geth to come after us, and now we have to go swimming?"
She sent Chiktikka out, and his reflection was smooth on the surface of the dark water, lighting up the corridor ahead of them. It didn't seem to get any deeper, so Shepard started out after the combat drone.
"No-body will be swimming," she said, wading in.
"Good," Garrus responded. "Turians aren't exactly—"
The lights blared on for a split second, and Shepard caught sight of geth in the corridor. Before she could move Garrus took her arm.
"They would have fired at us by now. What the hell is going on around here?"
A scream blared through the air, and Shepard blinked rapidly as she waded down the corridor towards the geth's location.
They looked like all the others they'd found so far—puppets with their string cut. The only one that had shown any signs of life was the one at the entrance, encased in a force field.
It made no sense. Though the Vulcan station had contained only security mechs, they'd fought geth on their way in to find Archer, and she'd expected to find them here. Instead they lay still and silent. One of the recordings that they'd heard on their journey through Prometheus station still bothered her.
"The VI's closing some passages, and leaving others open. It's like it's herding us."
The lights flickered again, and this time they stayed on, blue ribbons of light leading them down the corridor.
Shepard followed them along, head down, through a doorway and out into a cavernous space. The curved ceiling was lost in darkness that the feeble strip lights had no hope of penetrating. The shadows lay thick in the corners, and Shepard noted the dark pool of water that lay between them and their target with a flash of dread.
Though she'd been forced to swim during training, she'd hardly been a natural swimmer. Now she regarded water with deep suspicion.
"What were you saying about swimming?" Garrus asked.
"I'll go over. You two stay here," Shepard instructed, walking down the ramp and standing at the edge of the watery gap. Large metal platforms protruded at irregular intervals from the water. Some of them looked relatively intact, but she'd have no way of knowing how secure they were until she tried one.
She glanced down into the water and immediately wished she hadn't. The lights gave a brief glimmer, then died. All she had to guide her was the LED on her visor.
"Perfect," she muttered. Shepard took a deep breath, then jumped onto the closest platform. It gave a screech but held firm. The second wobbled to one side, and Shepard crouched low for a few moments before looking back at Garrus.
He was barely visible, a couple of blue lights in the dark. "You fall in and you're on your own," he yelled, before muttering "Ouch."
"Thanks, Tali."
"No problem, Shepard."
She pivoted round to look for the next platform. It was barely visible beneath the water, one edge breaking the surface.
Shepard jumped before she could change her mind, used her biotics to nudge her forwards a fraction, and landed half in the water.
The metal was slippery beneath her gloves, and she clamped her hands over the edge as her feet sought the submerged section and some sort of stability. It was at a steeper angle than she'd realised. One wrong move would tip her into the dark water and down.
There was no way of judging the depth. It could be a waist depth. It could be metres. The only thing she was sure of was that the combined weight of her armour and guns would weigh her down and keep her down.
She had to get off the platform quickly. Shepard sidled along sideways, reached the edge and stared at the last platform. There was only one way of getting to it.
Her biotics lit the water around her. The sight was comforting, as was the familiar feeling of power as it streamed through her. She reached out, gentle pushes with her mass effect fields, and once she had gained a sense of the metal beneath her feet, Shepard jumped.
It was a small, neat jump, but one she felt proud of. In the dark, in less than stable surroundings, she'd still managed to pull it off.
"Nearly done," Shepard said, leaping nimbly over the override switch. It rose smoothly. The screen in front of her burst into life.
"Override of Atlas station lockdown accepted," the computer told her.
Shepard breathed a sigh of relief.
The screen went dark. A face appeared, green and distorted, as David's scream pierced the air and set Shepard's heart racing.
She turned, and looked out across the darkness. Small lights, like blurry stars, started to blink into life around the room. Beneath the water a constellation grew.
A geth trooper rose from the water, and Shepard felt her body react, pistol in hand, fist glowing purple before her. They were surrounded on all sides, and at the exit stood what looked like a Prime.
Shepard started firing. She hit the trooper closest to Garrus, then span to face the geth that were swarming towards her. The knife would be useless. She pulled her pulse knuckles out, and slipped them onto her hands as the first geth reached her.
They were merciless. Shepard punched one to the ground and plunged her fist through its face before rising in a smooth jump that took her over the head of two of them.
Four shots and they were down. A rocket hit the wall behind her, and Shepard felt the blast blow across her barrier with a gust of heat and shrapnel.
She moved fast, her attention half on the dark void across the water. Garrus' blue lights were no longer visible.
"Garrus?" Shepard kicked one geth into the water, and rolled to avoid incoming fire. "You putting that reach to good use?"
"I could use a hand," Garrus replied.
Shepard used her visor to home in on his whereabouts. Though he was holding his own, he was having to keep them off Tali. Chiktikka helped, but when it came to hand-to-hand fighting the quarian was at a distinct disadvantage.
Shepard wasted no time. Shooting those engaging him would be too dangerous, as would firing a missile. She'd have to deal with them directly, and that meant crossing the water.
With a quick glance around her, and a couple of shots, Shepard positioned herself as far away from the water as possible. Once she lit up there would be no hiding. It was a risk she had to take.
She powered herself towards the water, flared the mass effect field around her, and with an almighty push she threw herself across.
Beneath her, the purple glow of her biotics reflected in broken fragments across the surface of the water. She reached out, found the ground again, and landed gracefully beside a geth hunter.
One punch with her pulse knuckles knocked it backwards. A couple of shots disabled its legs. Shepard lifted her gaze to scan for Garrus, and heard him shout across the room.
"Shepard!"
The warning echoed through the large space. It was too late.
A pair of arms wrapped around her from behind, massive red limbs that lifted her into the air and held her there with crushing force. With her arms pinned there was little Shepard could do but watch as the Prime carried her towards the water.
There was the distinct sound of Garrus firing, to no effect. She wriggled, and threw her head backwards, but it connected firmly with unyielding armour and achieved nothing.
The Prime pulled her tighter. Shepard heard her armour give an ominous crackle. The edge was closer than she'd thought.
She gasped in a quick breath as the Prime's feet met the water, and the blue lights of Garrus blinked out. Another step and they fell beneath the surface. Darkness surrounded her.
-0-0-0-0-
They vanished, and Garrus lashed out. The geth stumbled back, and in the darkness he caught a glimpse of more closing in. Tali's gun was still ringing out, but there was no way they could last long without Shepard.
If he could swim… Garrus growled, stamped a geth beneath his feet and started towards the waters edge.
"Come on, Shepard," he muttered. If anyone could come back, it was her.
There was a faint glow beneath the water. Garrus stumbled backwards as a shot hit his shield, then looked back at the patch of light. The purple glow blazed bright. A luminous purple figure erupted out of the water.
Shepard wasted no energy on landing, rolling straight into the geth before him and knocking them aside.
When she stood, the lights flickered on, and he saw her face alight with rage. She shot the still rising geth, and then turned back towards the water with her missile launcher armed and ready. The instant the Prime raised its head above the water Shepard fired.
She was too close, but he had a feeling Shepard was long past caring. The missile caught the Prime square in the face, and it disappeared back into the depths with a couple of faint flickers.
"Let's get to Atlas station and end this," Shepard muttered as she took out her SMG. "Archer, we're on our way out. If we survive, what do we do next?"
-0-0-0-0-
He'd seen lots of angry people during his time at C-Sec. Most of them used it as an excuse to act like damn fools. Not Shepard.
She gathered it in. Her rage gave her focus, and as they moved towards the control room she gained momentum. The ghostly door command panels, sliding silently along walls, received nothing more than a cursory glance. Most people would have at least paid them some attention. Shepard was not most people.
"According to the map Archer gave us, the override's in here," Shepard said, the visor flickering on her face. The dip in the water must have fried its circuits. That made three this month.
"What do you think we'll find in there?" Tali asked, and Shepard frowned at her.
"I've had enough surprises. Let's go and find out."
She took out her pistol and opened the door.
All three of them entered, turning slowly as they took the measure of the room and checked for hostiles. Mercifully it was empty.
They approached the control panel together.
"So you press this, and that's it. We're done. Why am I getting a bad feeling about this?" Garrus said.
"Because you've known Shepard long enough to know that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong," Tali replied.
Shepard ignored them both and pressed her hand to the glowing console.
The lights dimmed, and Garrus couldn't help looking at the door to check for incoming. There were bound to be geth that they'd missed. He looked back at Shepard.
Her hand was still on the console, but her head was thrown back as she convulsed, green light spilling across her and coming to rest in her eyes. The red had been one thing, but this was much worse.
"Shepard!" He reached out to grab her, and felt a shock run through him. His knees hit the floor. Somewhere amidst the static of his comms he could hear the VI screaming.
There were no words, just a hollowed out wail. He raised his head, and saw Shepard stumbling towards the exit. His limbs would not respond. By the time he'd forced himself upright she was at the threshold, a twitching marionette of a figure.
Garrus lurched after her. The door slammed shut, and he found himself pawing at the cold metal. There was only one thing left to do. He started cursing, launching into a stream of invective.
"Stop it," Tali said. "We need to get out of here."
"How? Have you tried contacting the Normandy lately?"
Tali brought up her omni-tool, and he heard her small noises of frustration when she got the same response he had. "The signal is being jammed."
Garrus paced back towards the console and sank down to stare at the door. "David isn't going to let us out that easily. He wanted us in here. He wanted Shepard for something, or we'd never have made it in."
"What do you mean?" Tali sent Chiktikka out to try the door before walking slowly over to him. "Why Shepard?"
"What did we just witness?"
"She…" Tali shook her head. "I'd say she got hacked. I didn't think that was even possible."
"This is a Cerberus facility. What are the chances they'd have access to Shepard's medical records?" Garrus said. "We have no idea what kind of tech they put in her. David does. That's why he wanted her in here."
"But why? What for?" Tali asked. She paced past the console, and Garrus knew what she was thinking. If they could hack the console maybe they could save Shepard and get out of here. If only it was that simple.
Whatever Cerberus had unleashed, it wasn't going to be contained that easily.
"Someone will come for us. They'll find Shepard."
"The signals being blocked," Garrus reminded her. "Miranda will probably wait 'til we're an hour overdue before launching any kind of rescue." By which time it might be too late.
He got to his feet, and approached the door. "Maybe we're going about this the wrong way. Tali, think you can overload the door servos?"
"I can try." She started working on her omni-tool. Garrus started searching for a suitable lever. He wrenched a length of piping off the wall, gave it an exploratory bend, then started trying to wedge it between the doors.
The door panel blinked green.
"Tali!" He was out, and following the sound of Shepard's voice. He could hear her through the comm. Relief shot through him, followed by concern. The rage in her voice was building.
"You forced him into this. Look at him. Look at him!" she ordered.
Garrus bolted through the doors and found Shepard stood in the centre of the room, in front of what looked like a tangle of wires. There was something white and still in the midst of it. A human.
"Garrus, can you help me get him down?" Shepard asked, her eyes never leaving Archer.
"It's not as though I planned this," he babbled. "It was an accident. Seeing David communicate with the geth… it all seemed harmless."
"I'm done listening to your excuses." Shepard turned away from him, and started running her hands over the wires that supported the wasted creature at the centre of the VI. Her face was blank, but Garrus knew her better than that.
Archer stepped forwards, and Shepard pulled her gun on him without hesitation.
"I had no choice," he said. "The demands were incredible. You of all people know what the Illusive Man expects of us."
"What? And that makes it acceptable to treat your own family like this? Your brother? You and Cerberus won't be getting away with this. I'm taking him with me."
"No! Let me take care of him!" Archer begged.
Garrus looked at Shepard. Her hold on the pistol was unwavering.
"Please, Shepard. If he dies it's unforgivable. Let me take care of him. Please."
It was no use begging once her mind was made up. "You had your chance," she said, putting her pistol away and turning her back to him.
Garrus heard a voice.
"Quiet. Please make it stop."
The voice belonged to David. His eyes were pulled open, and tears trailed down the corpse like pallor of his face from the stretched white of his eyes. When he'd first seen Shepard she'd been bleached of colour. A dead woman walking. This was what Cerberus did to people. They gave life, and they took it away with equal disregard.
When this was done he was sure as hell making them pay for this.
"What do you mean?" Archer demanded. "Leave him. He's too valuable!"
There was a pistol shot from behind them, and Garrus wheeled around to see Shepard closing on Archer, his grip on the pistol failing. Her fist was clenched, and he noted that the pulse knuckles were still in place as she drew her hand back and snapped it forwards.
The blow caught Archer square in the face, blood spraying from his mouth as he hit the floor. Shepard didn't stop there.
She walked over to him, and pressed one foot on his windpipe. The wet noises coming from Archer told Garrus he was still alive.
"You come after him, and you have me to deal with," Shepard spat, grinding down with her heel.
Garrus watched. One more movement and she'd kill him.
Archer's eyes rolled in his head. He gurgled, his hands flapping feebly, and Shepard stepped off.
"Let's get David down. Normandy?"
"At last. Miranda was starting to worry, and you know how annoying she is," Joker replied.
"Tell Chakwas we've got incoming. She might want to clear med-bay. And have Miranda waiting for me in the shuttle bay. She needs to see this," Shepard instructed. She didn't meet Garrus' inquiring gaze. It looked like she wasn't done being angry yet.