"Get her on the table." Anya's younger sister said with a snap. "You took long enough."
"She had to experience the pulse, Jenni." Kai said mildly. "Just like all of us, she wasn't going to take our words for it. Not that she would anyway." She moved the chair into the lab and Anya stiffened on seeing the table that sat in the middle of it. Restraints showed all over it as well as sinister looking apparatus all around. "Don't move yet, Anya." Kai cautioned as she stopped the chair. Both guards followed the chair in and drew their weapons.
One held a Hornet Submachine gun, Anya noticed. Not that great in the weapons department, but easy to come by, and standard issue for Cerberus. The other... She blinked and remained very still when the Talon pistol swung to cover her. At this range, the weapon likely wouldn't just tear through her unarmored and unshielded body, but would likely mess up Kai as well.
"Hurry up!" Jennifer snapped. "We are on short time."
"Got a hot date?" Anya asked as Kai unstrapped her carefully and then stepped back. "I am not going to put you in danger Kia. What do you want me to do?" She asked.
"Get up and lie down on the table." Kai said gently. "It's padded and set to your dimensions so it should be fairly comfortable."
"Great place to get my mind destroyed, huh?" Anya asked as she did as instructed, her movements slow and precise. She sat on the table's edge and then swung her legs up. As Kai had said, the table was padded. She held her arms and legs to be strapped down and waited. Kai looked at her and Anya sighed. "Just do it."
"Right." Kai said with a shrug as she stepped close. The pistol and SMG never pointed away from Anya as she lay quiet. As soon as Kai had the wrist and ankle straps in place, she turned and snapped at the guards. "Put those away. If she does get loose, the last thing we need is are unsecured weapons." The guards looked at each other, shrugged and did as instructed.
"Go on, Kai." Jenni said diffidently as she stepped close. "I have this." She bent over Anya, tightening other straps. In moments, Anya could not move at all.
"Are you sure?" Kai asked gently. Jenni just looked at her and Kai sighed. "Okay. Call if you need me, for anything." A gentle hand caressed Jenni's shoulder but the other woman did not react. Kai slumped a bit and turned to Anya. "Don't fight it, Anya, please?" She begged. Anya did not react either and Kai left the room, shaking her head sadly. Anya did not react as Jenni stepped to the equipment and then turned to the guards.
"I know you are ordered to be here, to guard her." Jenni said in a snide voice. "But she cannot escape. Step outside."
"Our orders are clear, Ma'am." The guard with the SMG said calmly. "She is not to be unescorted at any time."
"Do you really want to argue with me, trooper?" Jenni asked in a calm, but menacing tone. "I am a riot of emotion at the moment, I could use some stress relief." Anya stared as both guards shuddered. "Get out, you will throw off the scans. And if you do, we will have to start all over again from the beginning!" Her face lit in what someone charitable might have called a smile. "And if that happens, I will need some serious stress relief. You offering?" Both guards stared at each other again and hastily left the room. Jenni sighed and sat at a chair in front of a group of terminals.
"Jenni..." Anya said softly.
"Shut up." Jennifer said calmly. "Speaking will throw the scans off too." An odd mechanical hood lowered down from the ceiling to cover the top of Anya's head. A mechanical arm extended from the side and the mask attached to it covered Anya's nose and mouth.
"I have to say this." Anya said, her voice muffled by the mask.
"What part of 'Shut up' do you not understand?" Jenni asked caustically. "I am introducing a marker gas into your bloodstream. It will help the scans. Breathe evenly or I will sedate you."
"I may not have time, I have to say this now. I am sorry, Jenni." Anya said slowly. Jenni jerked in place, but did not speak and Anya spoke again. "I was young and stupid, scared and clueless. I had no idea what was happening. I had no right to say what I did, do what I did. I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't understand."
"We were both young and stupid." Jenni said in an undertone. Then she scowled and snarled at Anya. "Shut up."
"I deserve your hate, Jenni." Anya said sadly. "I deserve your rage. I just had to... I had to apologize for what I said, what I called you. It wasn't your fault."
"Yes it was." Jenni said softly. Then she rose quickly, slamming her chair back. Her face was flushed and her tone was angry now. "I am going to sedate you, you stupid cow."
"I had no right." Anya said sadly as Jenni approached. "It wasn't your fault you were attracted to me. I had no idea what to do when someone called me 'beautiful'. " Anya said, tears falling. "I had no idea what to do... when you touched me... I had no idea..."
"I was sick." Jenni said in a low tone as she checked an injector. "I got better."
"You were 15!" Anya snapped. "You were not sick, you were attracted to me! You were confused. Hell, so was I! Mi hermana..."
"Shut..." Jenni came close, the hypo glinting ominously in her hand. "Up..."
"I am to blame." Anya said as she relaxed as best she could. "Not you. That is all I had to say." She clamped her mouth shut as Jenni prepared the injection. She did not dare breathe as Jenni leaned close.
"It's saline." Jenni said in a very soft voice directly into Anya's ear. "Look scared. I know you can. When it hits you look sleepy." Anya was confused, but decided to play along.
"Jenni, I am sorry!" Anya said, trying with all her might to appear terrified. "Jenni no!" She cried as the other woman brandished the hypo and slammed it into Anya's arm hard enough to bruise. It hissed, but, like Jenni said, nothing happened. Her head remained clear.
"That will keep you quiet." Jenni snapped in an aggrieved tone. "Now just lie there while I get these scans done." She straightened and stalked back to her terminal. She spun in place as the door hissed open and Anya stared through slitted eyes as two new guards came in. "Yes?" Jenni demanded.
"It's done. Camera is offline." The one on the left said quietly. "We have five minutes." Anya stiffened. Did she know that voice?
"Not enough time." Jenni said with a sigh. "Darn it. Any chance?"
"No." The other guard said. "The hangar is locked down tight. Escape pods likewise. I'm sorry, Jenni, we tried. But there is no way, not carrying her. And she is not going to be able to run."
"No one could do more, Chris." Jenni said sadly.
"Chris?" Anya asked, then clamped her mouth shut.
"You never did take orders well, sis." Jenni said in a very different tone. She smiled at Anya's confused expression. "We were going to try and get you out of here, but dear old dad seems to have locked the place up tight." She concluded sourly. "I sent a call for backup, but he route is roundabout, I have no idea when, or if it will be acted on." Anya stared at her and then at the closest armored form,her eyes narrowing.
"Hiya Anya. Long time." The man who had spoken last said as he hit a control and his helmet visor rose. Indeed, the face was one Anya knew. He grinned. "You look like you have seen a ghost, Captain."
Anya stared at the man. She hadn't trusted him, not by a long shot, when Alliance HQ had sent him and Vincent to work with her. But they had both shown their dedication and courage any number of times. So what if they had worked for Cerberus. They had realized what was going on before being indoctrinated and escaped with a number of others. They had surrendered to the Alliance and been interrogated before being sent out to do battle with the Reapers. In the darkest corners of her mind, Anya wondered if the Alliance had planned on throwing the Cerberus defectors away. But Chris and Vincent had worked three times as hard as Anya herself. They had wanted to prove to themselves, their team and Alliance HQ that they did know what they had done and wanted to make amends. They had, but...
"You died." Anya said slowly. "In that raid on Sur'Kesh. You died!" She snapped. "And Vincent too." She looked at the other and he raised his helmet visor as well. Vincent was smiling gently as well. "Your bodies were unrecoverable. We mourned you!"
"Deep cover insertion." Jenni said with a sigh. "To make contact with me, to help me, keep me out of trouble." Anya's eyes went VERY wide at that and Jenni smirked. "Really, sis. Did you really think you were the only member of the family to go off the reservation? I got a commendation from dear old dad for finding and rescuing two wounded Dragoons during an Alliance sweep on Sur'Kesh. Last time I was in the field actually. I got banged up pretty good on that op, had to stop doing field work."
"You..." Anya spoke slowly. "You work for..."
"Alliance Intelligence." Jenni said with a smile. "But... we are really on short time. Any chance of another message?" She asked Vincent who shook his head.
"No." The man that Anya now remembered was a Vanguard type said softly. "Com room is on full lockdown too. Makes you wonder what they expect to hit this place."
"If the Alliance had a clue what was going on, a freaking avalanche." Jenni said with a scowl. "I don't know what you have guessed, Anya..."
"I am a key of some kind, right?" Anya asked.
"Indeed." Jenni said with a shudder. "Dad worked for decades, trying to unlock human biotic potential. At first, we -Intel that is- just thought it was unethical genetics experiments, but now... We know it was more. Have you ever heard anything of a "project Nimue'?"
"Not really." Anya said dubiously. "Just the name."
"In mythology, Nimue was the name of the Lady of the Lake." Jenni said. "She gave the sword Excalibur to King Arthur. Our father found and ancient schematic and deciphered it. He is trying to create the ultimate control mechanism. Cerberus got involved and you know some of the rest. To make the machine work, they needed someone with the proper genetic structure. They couldn't find anyone, so they made them. Five of us now." Anya nodded with her eyes. "They planned to use it on the Geth, but then the Reapers hit and all hell broke loose. The Illusive Man wanted results, so mom and dad tried to use me to control a Reaper Destroyer, it didn't work. I couldn't do what had to be done. You can."
"So... why me?" Anya asked, dazed. "I am powerful, but... I am no sword or whatever."
"Anya..." Jenni's voice was very kind now. "She gave the sword to Arthur. The idea is, you can channel the control machine's power. Channel it like you channeled your biotics. You heal faster than any of us. You can survive the machine. I was in it for two minutes and it very nearly killed me."
"Jenni...?" Anya asked when her sister stopped talking. "Can you kill me?"
"I don't think so, Anya." Jenni said sadly. "They are watching too close and anything I can do can be countered quickly. If I shoot you, they will hook the chip that I have disabled back up and use your body." Anya tried to shake her head, but it was strapped down. Jenni shook her head. "No time, I need to go yell at some people. Chris, Vincent, get into position for plan 'G'." Anya stared at her sister. 'G'. Alliance military lexicon for 'Gone to Hell'. "Wait... I can slow it a bit... Anya, do you trust me?"
"Jenni...I..." Anya shuddered a little. "Do I have a choice?"
"Storm we fight." Chris said as he turned toward the door. Anya stared at him. That had been the team mantra during the war.
"Storm we fly." Vincent spoke next.
"Storm we live." Jenni said with a sad smile at Anya.
"Storm we die." Anya concluded the team mantra sadly. "What do I do?"
"Cameras will come online in one minute, six seconds." Jenni said softly as she rose and walked towards Anya. "I will unstrap your arm to run an IV. When I do, grab my gun. Take me hostage."
"This is your plan?" Anya asked, incredulous, as Jenni stepped close. She shut up as Jenni snarled at her.
"Shut up!" Jenni snapped. The camera over the door started whirring again, Anya hadn't noticed it hadn't been moving until now. "Guards, watch her, I am going to run an IV."
"Is there a problem, doctor?" A male voice from the intercom asked. "We lost camera feed."
"How many times have I told you to fix that bloody thing?" Jenni snapped. "The patient could have run amuck, heck, we could have had a screaming orgy in here and no one would have noticed! Five minutes I have been trying to get that fracking camera online, since none of you can be trusted to do it! Then the fraking sedative wore off and she won't stop blabbing!" Anya had to smile, glad that the mask hid her mouth. Jenni hadn't changed that much.
"Doctor..." The male voice said in a long suffering tone.
"Oh shut up!" Jenni snapped. "The scans are almost done. I did warn all of you about the potential for overload on her implants. After this is done, she is your problem. Then this arrogant little witch will finally earn her keep." She leaned over Anya, hand out of sight of the camera and undid Anya's arm restraint. As soon as she did, Anya jerked her hand free of Jenni's loose grip and grabbed for Jenni's gun. Jennia batted at Anya's hand, but the blow was minimal. "No!" Jenni screamed as Anya's hand came up with the Predator which immediately pressed against Jenni's head.
"Move and I pull the trigger!" Anya snapped as the guards froze in place. "You, sister..." She snapped the word 'sister' out with venom. "Undo the straps!"
"Shoot her somewhere non-lethal!" Jenni snarled. "Stupid..."
"You hush!" Anya said with a sneer. "Well?" She asked the guards who both had their guns out. "What is it going to be?"
"Release her, Anya." Anya's guts turned to ice at the cold voice of her birth father but her body did not react. Indeed, she gripped Jenni tighter. "Why isn't she obeying?" He asked with a snarl of impatience.
"The scan..." Jennifer said with a matching snarl. "Damn it! I warned you it might interfere with the chip!"
"Don't move." Anya snapped as Jenni struggled. "I may not be fully recovered, but I do have enough strength to pull a trigger." Jenni froze.
"Let her up, Jennifer." The patriarch of the Wilson-Fuentes clan stated coldly. "She has nowhere to go and I still need your expertise, Jenni. You are going nowhere, Anya."
"We will see about that." Anya said as Jenni started undoing the other straps.