March 25th, 2185 CE
Arcturus Station, Arcturus Stream
Right after the last mission debrief, Shield would tail Gunnery Chief Erik 'Fox' James Rose, a Spec Ops CQC specialist, and who's biggest military distinction was volunteering to fight in the Anhur Rebellions. Fox is a very serious person, reticent, does not like to hang out with the rest of the group after missions, and can be seen as a bit grim. But he's not all bad, as he's conversed briefly with Shield a few times over the past few missions, and has even agreed to teach Shield how to use pistols akimbo like himself, since Shield thinks its really bad-ass. And after his moral outburst in Turvess, general despondency and clear effort at martyrdom on Garvug, Shield begins to feel like Fox is battling some demons. He resolves to investigate further. Loyalty mission time. Shield eventually follows Fox to the Alliance chapel on Arcturus. Now two of Shield's major traits are his easy-going nature and curiosity, which leads him to inadvertently building bonds with people. He's already convinced everyone on the team by this point to tell him how they came to be in the Alliance and how they've crossed Cerberus. Boots originally enlisted to get a doctorate on the Alliance payroll. He stopped as a medical enlisted because he eventually found his true calling inside medi-vacs, flying. And he reported two squad mates to be Cerberus supporters, earning a special mark on his docket. Backwater enlisted to get off her homeworld and see the galaxy, falling into engineering due to her intelligence, and background in fixing machinery on the colony. She was part of the clean-up on Nepheron, and blew up the Cerberus base (that Shepard took down in ME1) less they came back for any hidden data caches. Hawk was an Olympic shooter like her father back in Brazil, and figured using her skill-set to help others was a logical conclusion. Though she's not honestly sure, she believes that a crime lord she took out was a Cerberus financier. Shield already knew Kaidan's background.
So it came lastly to Fox, who has never willingly shared anything about his past with anyone. Anyways, Fox quickly lets Shield know that he saw him from the get-go once inside of the chapel, and asks him what he wanted. Shield would respond that he just wanted to talk, and see if he's doing alright. Fox would reply he just wanted peace and to pay his respects, since this mission occurred during the anniversary. "What anniversary would that be," Shield would ask. After some introspection, Fox would ask if Shield thought people deserved second chances. And Shield would emphatically agree, since that's exactly what he needed to redeem himself in Shepard's eyes during ME:AHM. Due to this, Fox's face would become emaciated with guilt, and confess to Shield like he was a priest, the day being very emotional for him. He's obviously been wanting to tell someone for ages. This would further illustrate how Shield's talent for getting people to open up has grown, and how many would come to trust him as a stalwart companion.
Fox has the only other personal vendetta against Cerberus on the team, asides from the now-absent Killer. His parents were killed when he was just a child, to prevent them from testifying against a Cerberus supporter. He learned the identity of who ordered the hit through happenstance, though no one believed him at the time. The very AIS agent that promised to keep them safe, Albert Ross. After leaving the orphanage he was left in at age 18, he spent years of wandering, drinking his life away and doing mercenary work, hoping to eventually use the skills he learned to one day take revenge. Upon seeing Ross' name make the news, he decided that day was the time. Finding the whereabouts of the Alliance agent responsible, Fox tracked Ross down to enact his plan. Just how his parents had died, Fox had lit a match, and set his house aflame in poetic justice. Only after would he discover that his vendetta would result in the death of the Alliance agent's family, and not even Ross himself. After killing an innocent woman and little girl, he had been permanently scarred, essentially becoming a silent monk searching for some small chance at atonement, if he ever could. Most of his work focused on saving slaves from batarian traders, eventually resulting in the Alliance taking notice, and Taskmaster himself offering Fox a chance at revenge with Cerberus earlier the past year. And overwhelmed with the story, Shield couldn't fathom what to even say. Eventually recalling his own struggles, and the words of Old Man Hodda Nar Tasi, Shield would decide to sagely recite them: "You cannot change the past. You can only move forward."
And Fox would actually reflect on that fortune cookie tidbit. He'd need some time alone. But he'd also mention to Shield that he never felt more at peace upon sharing this deepest regret. Satisfied for now, Shield would take his leave, and head back to Herakles HQ some days later for his next action during the Normandy's hiatus. For you see, Shield has a list. A list of things he could prevent, and would prevent during the events of ME. And this following opportunity would be one of them. Upon learning about Iolaus' discovery, and how to identify Cerberus communications, Shield determined he would bluff, and tell Iolaus that he was something of a communications expert himself. Shield would have 'discovered' signals coming from a place in the Typhon system of Phoenix Massing, and ask Iolaus to further look into them. And though skeptical, Iolaus would agree to look into it since he had nothing better to do. Hence, his subsequent discovery of Project Overlord.
April 10th, 2185 CE
Hermes Station, Aite
So after looking into it, Iolaus is like oh shit, Shield is right, we got heavy Cerberus activity. He would then bring this to Shield and Taskmaster's attention. Taskmaster would look at Shield, be like, okay, yup, go-time baby. Raise the banners, let's knock on the door, and Shield is all ready to save David from his big bad brother. And off the team goes once it's assembled and briefed.
The shuttle drops down in front of the initial facility, and as they exit, they find a horror scene. Dozens dead throughout the facility, blood smears everywhere, it's a total blood bath. Doctor Gavin Archer does NOT contact them to explain the situation, and Shield begins to panic. Eventually the rogue 'VI' makes itself known, growl scaring the hell out of everyone, then enemies everywhere, and while the firefight goes on, Iolaus is able to glean some information about a rogue 'VI' going haywire in the base, and seeing the Satellite Dish suddenly move spurs everyone to head toward it. Shield 'theorizes' they'll have to destroy it before the VI beams itself off-world and uploads itself to the extranet, as it's obviously taken over all these geth. Some of the more ignorant members argue that it could be a geth program itself, but alas they head for the dish regardless. Hence the race through the base. It's heavy fighting through the hallways, with Shield almost getting killed by a geth hunter in the kitchen of the base's cafeteria, but eventually, they force their way onto the dish, where a geth prime is there to greet them. They scatter and do rounds inside the dish as they begin to get overwhelmed by the ever-growing number of geth platform. Once the prime is taken down by some well-placed explosives and the drone support of Backwater, teamwork allows them to clear the rest of the small fry. The team regroups wondering what the hell to do.
Not knowing how to shut down the satellite, and Shield not even remembering from the game, Backwater offers her expertise to blow it to kingdom come. They all work their way to the top of the dish and Backwater starts making her rounds, planting explosives. That's when the 'VI' returns after a long silence and unleashes the rocket bois. And shit goes south. Backwater only has time to set up two bombs, utterly lacking the concept of a 'need for speed'. The reason she had remained so calm under fire while taking down her infamous pirate base was because she totally got absorbed in her work. Then Hawk is caught in the aftermath of a nearby rocket, causing Boots to yell her name and rush to help her, leaving Backwater exposed. Shield sees her curse as she burns herself on another wire, clumsy right to the end, as a geth rocket trooper shoots the console head on, killing her in the resulting explosion. Kaidan, already using his biotics to stop several other missiles, becomes ghostly realizing what had just happened. Shield is in shock. Then the chain reaction begins, as the two other explosives go off with the resulting quake, and the whole dish begins to crumble beneath their feet. Picking up the unconscious Hawk, the rest of the team runs for it as parts of the antennae come down, leaping from the edge of the satellite in an epic freeze frame back onto the catwalk somewhere far below. They return to Hermes Station, shaken by the loss of their teammate in shutting down the threat. Or so they think.
As everyone's regrouping, wondering if it's over, Shield finds Dr. Archer's logs in a computer. He plays them, and everyone is given the gist of the project's purpose. Controlling the geth through a VI interface commanded by a human. Then its revealed the base was alerted that the they were on their way several days before they arrived, and the Cerberus researchers needed to pack up and leave. In the emergency evacuation, something goes wrong, the VI goes rogue, and everyone starts to be killed in the cross-fire. This alarms the team as they wonder how Cerberus knew they were coming. Then Shield lies that he found more intel, and that there are three more bases they need to shut down before they can stop the 'VI'. After wandering around the station, Kaidan finally finds the first override switch in Hermes and activates it, prompting the 'VI' to scream again. Iolaus and Taskmaster are then forced to break off contact as the 'VI' almost hacks their comms in spite of the Alliance's most complex encryption software. Before they go silent however, they give Herakles a map of the three other large energy signatures they detected nearby, corresponding to what Shield said.
Vulcan Station, Aite
They head to Vulcan first in the shuttle, and Boots stays behind to give aid to Hawk, who is still incapacitated and suffering from burns. They didn't want to leave her alone at Hermes in case more geth come back. So Kaidan, Shield, and Fox head in alone to the volcanic facility as Boots does his medic thing. As they cross the catwalks, almost getting blown up by pressurized valves, getting assaulted by the occasional mech and assault drone, Shield finds logs and sometimes listens to them. They detail the obvious, like a large energy spike occurring in Atlas Station, and losing contact with the rest of the outposts, but then they also mention the project's overseer who will be rotating out, Raymond Ashe. A name Shield is not familiar with. Anyway, once across the catwalks, they reach the main chamber of the power plant. They make their way across relatively quickly before they realize they're surrounded by hidden mechs. Including two YMIRs. They run for the stairs, Kaidan shielding them with his barrier, Shield quickly bypassing the door, and they dive into the room of the override switch, barricading the entrance as they're followed by overwhelming gunfire. While Shield activates the second override switch, Kaidan tries to contact Boots to no avail. They're trapped with no way back out. The mechs are just waiting outside the room now, biding their time.
Shield and Kaidan come up with a game plan. Open the door, Fox throws out his flash M-14's, Kaidan screens with his biotics, and then they all dive for cover. And then said plan happens. They get pelted by YMIR machine fire bad, the mechs totally unaffected by the screen, and the squad's shields are shredded even with Kaidan's sentinel support. They are barely able to take cover behind a tankard, and rounds are still spraying around them, followed by the occasional missile explosion. The tankard starts to hiss, letting them know it's structural integrity is about to fail too. Shield's popping whatever mechs turn the corner, and Kaidan is attempting to come up with a solution. The door out is just across the way, but extremely exposed. Then Fox gets up, and Shield already knows what he intends to do. Don't do it he says. Kaidan also agrees. But Fox merely tells him he only wished he could have done more before the end. This is the only way someone will make it out. The room's too small, and the firepower's too great to overcome. They also don't have much time until the tankard kills them all anyway. Shield pleads with him, that he hasn't even gotten his revenge yet on Ross yet, but Fox dives out of cover to grab the mechs' attention, unloading the entirety of his mag into a Ymir's head. Shield and Kaidan curse, sprinting for the door at full throttle, barrier enveloping them. They hear overwhelming gunfire as the door opens up, and right as the YMIRs turn back to them, the tankard erupts, spewing flames and plasma all over the room. Vents start to hiss steam everywhere too, and Kaidan and Shield double time it as fast as they can despite their injuries as the whole place begins to meltdown. They barely escape back out to the shuttle, drenched in sweat, as the energy station goes kablow.
Prometheus Station, Aite
Everyone is not okay. Hawk is awake, but aghast they had lost Backwater and Fox in her time out. Kaidan is damning himself, saying this is just like Virmire. Shield just realizes he never had the chance to tell him about Ashley, Fredericks, and Emerson surviving. WHOOPS. He didn't really forget but we'll get more into that later. And Boots is livid, ready to head back up and just nuke the place. And Shield is aware their next target will be the deadliest, with a hundred geth waiting to ambush them as soon as they activate the last override. And there's the giant geth cruiser cannon that's still operational too. Despite being an elite Alliance taskforce...they still couldn't measure up to the feats of Commander Shepard and her team. The obstacles were just too great. Shield says he's going to go into the last station with his tactical cloaking gear, something he hates using, but is issued to every infiltrator. He'll sneak in and sneak out without risking anyone else's life. Everyone is adamantly against it, and Shield curses as they all decide that the 4 of them going in together is their best bet. Boots still wants to nuke the place as they set back out.
As everyone realizes the next base is a downed geth ship, they also have to figure out how to take out its main cannon with the entire thing being shielded. Shield offers the totally bright and his entirely original idea to get the cannon to destroy its own shield generators. Without the Hammerhead however, he has no idea how. Boots decides to bravely use the shuttle to do this. As everyone's dropped off outside the range of the cannon, Boots goes back in alone, navigating the cannon's artillery and baiting it into destroying the generators like Shield suggested. Once done, Boots flies back out to meet the team, cannon not getting a single shot off thanks to his expert piloting. Then Hawk lays into the cannon from afar with her decked-out sniper rifle, putting round after round into a single point that she determined to be important. After several minutes, the spark on the cannon turned into a flame, and eventually, the whole cannon erupts in a large explosion, safely putting that obstacle out of commission.
Their next task is actually infiltrating the ship, as everyone heads down into the valley aboard the shuttle. The first thing they see once inside the cruiser is the geth prime in stasis, a not so subtle hint at what would happen later. Shield wants to destroy it now, but can't figure out a way to deactivate the stasis field. Hawk tries to kill it with gunfire herself, but the field is too strong for the rounds to penetrate. They deem to leave it alone. Unfortunately. They continue inwards, surrounded by dead scientists and a bunch of missing geth platforms. Shield doesn't like this. And they soon realize the 'VI' is herding them, locking and unlocking doors, with its giant green face appearing randomly. Boots remarks that he hates its smug aura. Shield is sweating.
Shield also activates some more logs, with more talk of this Colonel Raymond. The Cerberus crew is grumbling as they're packing up as many geth as they can for the evacuation, making clear that the man is hard to work under. There is also some gossip about the heated discussion between him and Doctor Archer that's been going on for the past few days. Eventually, the group reaches the end, solves the puzzle to get across the flooded ship, and Hawk activates the last override. Cue the 'VI' screaming and activating geth around the ship, all of which had been hiding in nooks and crannies out of sight. They're hounded every step of the way back out, with Shield taking a shot to the shoulder trying to protect Kaidan. Then comes the geth prime. Kaidan orders everyone to form up, yet as always, Boots decides to go off on his own, and Shield follows him. As Kaidan and Hawk start taking care of the small fry, furious, Boot's distraction allows Shield to leap from the second floor and omni-blade the geth prime, freeing up the exit, and taking it down before they're all overwhelmed by the ever increasing amount of platforms pouring out of the woodwork. But with Kaidan and Hawk at the stairwell, and Shield on the 1st floor, no one can cover Boots as he throws himself over the side, having already taken heavy fire from the geth behind him. Bleeding profusely, Hawk and Shield drag Boots out, with Kaidan's biotics covering them. The taskforce's CO then uses his biotics one last time to dislodge some machinery, and blocks the exit.
Gasping, Boots apologizes for breaking Hawk's heart the first time around, with Hawk arguing that he actually has it mixed up, and that she broke up with him. They argue why they even got back together in the first place. Oh yeah. At some point in the story, Isadora and Boots became a thing. With all their time together on over-watch, it was inevitable. Then Boots offers Shield his omni-tool, and therefore omni-shield, figuring it was meant to be, what with Shield's name and all. Also because Shield was so obsessed with it. Boots then begins to tell Lanky something, but sputters out halfway through, dying in Hawk's arms. Shield can't take it anymore, and sheds manly tears at the loss of his third friend of the day.
Atlas Station, Aite
Kaidan pilots the shuttle to the last station, with Hawk sniping the turrets guarding it from the air. The three last remaining agents of Herakles then descend to finally finish off our rogue 'VI'. Though one last geth prime assaults them before the elevator, Shield had already used the last of their grenades to mine the area around it, knowing it was coming. Hawk and Kaidan don't question it considering the amount of ambushes they've seen. With it debilitated and no other distractions, they lay down a huge amount of gunfire to take it out. They then descend, elevator almost killing them when it crashes, which Shield DID forget about. They then go in guns blazing, shooting up every single inactive geth platform they see, though all the platforms just remain at their hubs deathly still, inactive for some reason. Vulcan station exploding had some effect apparently on the place's power reserves.
The logs of Raymond Ashe play over the intercom as their trek goes on, talking about the frustration of having to get up and move shop, as they can't bring all the geth and their warship with them. A huge opportunity would be lost if they leave now. The logs of Archer also play, detailing how David was recently observed to communicate with a platform. He thinks this is an exciting discovery. The last log that plays (as the 'VI' very obviously leads the group to another room) records the argument between Archer and Raymond days before Herakles arrived, as the Illusive Man deems to shutdown the cell since it couldn't be completed before they were discovered. They argue over accelerating the program to prove it works, and that maybe they need not lose all these resources after all. Shield was already ready to kick Archer's ass for what he did to his brother, but that has now turned to bloodlust with the loss of Backwater, Fox, and Boots. As the group enters the final room that the 'VI' guides them to, Shield walks up to the console alone, as Kaidan and Hawk expect another geth ambush, fingers itching to start spraying. As he presses the button to the console, he is shocked to find his brain splitting apart, and the 'VI' taking control of his reality. Though he lacks Shepard's cybernetics, he realizes too late that his gray box was an obvious target for the 'VI'. He remarks he's practically a 'VI' himself all considering.
The others are worried about Shield for all of a second before they are separated by a locked door from him, and Shield is left to wander the station by himself, surrounded by crazy hallucinations. His head pounds heavily as memories from the past start to appear in each room he passes. Of scientists prepping test subjects and operations gone awry. However, they are not the scenes from Overlord, and most certainly not the memories of David. As the 'VI' digs through his graybox, Shield experiences the past memories of Alexei Leonov during Project Backdoor. Shield is showed Leonov, who was the only survivor (or so he thought at the time) of Akuze in 2177 CE, and that the soldier was emotionally destroyed over the death of his unit. Discharged that same year due to mental stress, and on the cusp of suicide, he was made an offer that he accepted without hesitation. By General Petrovsky himself. Shield curses the man's name for not telling him everything back aboard the Citadel in 2183. Continuing the scene, with the chance to leave behind his strife while still serving the Alliance, Leonov accepts the offer from Petrovsky without hesitation. He's strapped to a table and put under, which results in the death of his ego inside a secret lab on Sanctum. A lab Shield recognizes as Firebase Glacier from ME3. A Cerberus base. Shield is double-pissed at Petrovsky, and now has Cerberus to question about Leonov's whereabouts for the last six years before he woke up on Eden Prime.
Then, the last memory comes, and surrounds Shield in complete darkness. A bright white screen suddenly blinds him, and after a couple seconds, he recognizes it. The skill board! It had abandoned him two years ago. Yet here it was. Had it come back?! After all these years?! He realizes every skill is at 0 however. Not very accurate considering his training. It's lampshaded that it's part of the training program the Gray Box would give the sleeper agent while they were inactive. Anyway, the skill board's gone in the blink of an eye. The complete darkness returns, where he then overhears from several doctors that the experiment failed. Then, in the complete silence of the void, out of the darkness...two yellow stars. A blood red backdrop. Two black worlds. And then...it. It emerged from the dark. But the light spilling forth purged it all. It's light shone radiantly. And it's eyes were angelic. It's eyes were loving. It's eyes were hope. Hopeful of Shield. And Shield gasps, recalling the visions he had seen back during the events of ME1. They had occurred shortly after each time Shepard had interacted with a beacon. Or so he thought. He hadn't seen them since 2183. What was that? Had the vision reoccurred? Or was that...a memory-
The 'VI' screeches, shattering the illusion, with the growl almost intelligible now. And Shield realizes the outline of the 'VI' is in front of him now. He was at the center of Project Overlord. Or what he thought was it as the giant gaggle of machinery before him looked different...but he didn't have time to question as he activates his new omni-shield to protect him from the fire of nearby geth. Using his N7 training, Shield dives behind columns, snakes through gaps in their defense, snipes their flashlight heads with Sweetness, and takes out each platform one by one. As he finishes the last one off, another memory plays, although this time, it's not Shield's. It's David's. It shows Raymond Ashe arguing with Doctor Gavin Archer. They have to show the Illusive Man the results. Especially since the project's ending. He puts forward to use David to control the geth. Doctor Archer argues that anything could happen. His brother might not survive the contact. Raymond says he doesn't care and orders a Cerberus scientist to bring him in. Doctor Archer argues and tells him he's not ready. As David walks in, Doctor Archer tells him they're leaving, and that he won't let his brother be used like a guinea pig. This infuriates Raymond and in a sudden move, shoots him. David pushes his brother out of the way and gets hit instead. As Doctor Archer holds his brother, Raymond nods to the Cerberus scientist. He won't lose their meal ticket so easily. Raymond opines Doctor Archer might even be able to help protect his brother from harm after-all as the guards seize him too. David pleads with Raymond to stop as he's dragged out of the room.
The illusion shatters around the VI, revealing...a horrible sight. A mess of man and machine, a gross frankenstein blob that barely resembles anything human. Without the extra time or Doctor Archer's guiding hand in the matter, the method for creating the 'VI' is extremely...crude. The only thing recognizable among the tubes, machinery, and bodies is a head at the center of it all. A grisly face flush with machinery. After all this time, Shield realizes it wasn't saying 'Make It Stop'. It was saying 'Raymond Stop'. What a twist. And the true villain, Raymond Ashe, then opens the door of an adjacent chamber, explaining that the Project was a horrible success. With David dying, Gavin Archer's organs and body had been used as crude life support for David's brain, as they had nothing else to sustain it with. Shield immediately turns to fire on him but the doorway is covered by a geth force field. He does the classic, by sacrificing one, we'll save millions monologue, you can't shut it down after all that they've done and accomplished, the Illusive Man will be thrilled, they have it under control now that Herakles is here, etc etc. But Shield isn't really listening to any of it. He's now shooting the power conduits feeding the monstrosity. Colonel Raymond, enraged, drops the field and with gun in hand, goes to stop Shield. After a short fire fight, they exchange barbs, Shield calling Cerberus two-bit terrorists, and upon doing some cool omni-fu, dual-wielding omni-shield and omni-blade, plants his cybernetic blade right into Raymond, taking the bastard down with the one-liner, "terrorize this." Hawk and Kaidan join Shield shortly after, having caught up, only to be aghast at the monstrosity in front of them.
While Kaidan thinks the person inside could maybe be saved (they do have to try right?), Hawk starts to come around to the thinking that all these people, that Boots, Fox, and Backwater may have died for nothing if they dismantle this. Could the Alliance not use this themselves? Is it really even human anymore? If they could use this 'VI' to control the geth then at least of all this-
With the batteries down, Shield open fires on what's left of David and Gavin, ending their lives and terminating the project altogether, knowing he was to blame for it. All of it. From his point of view, he was evil. There was nothing that Grissom Academy could even do for the two at this point. He failed them. Hawk's delusions are stopped in their tracks, and Kaidan doesn't say anything as the deed is done.
Alliance News Network Daily Broadcast
Host would be Ruxius Rilius, finally returning after his year long absence. And only returning to broadcast the most dramatic story of the year, and the breaking news that the galaxy's economy had just crashed. The Volus Protectorate, after seeing humanity get a seat on the Council, and an investigation concluding that several matriarchs had knowingly hidden a prothean beacon, withdraw their embassy from the Citadel Council, outraged by these events. In doing so, they abstain from their role as the Council's stewards for the galactic economy, causing the galactic index to fall like crazy due to panicked speculation and hoopla. The reconstruction of the Citadel is hampered, currencies begin to fail, and xenophobic doomsday preppers start saying they told you so. The Hierarchy are on the verge of militarily intervening, and forcing Irune's citizens to return to their duties, which causes several other ambassadors from governments like the Primacy, the Courts, and the Alliance to finally address the hegemonic nature of the Hierarchy, and why such an authoritarian and despotic ruling style is condoned by the galactic community. The galaxy is undergoing political upheaval, and the guest from Alliance Public Affairs, Private Richard Johnson, would comment on the Alliance's official stance, indicating the integrity of the Council must be upheld. The events render mass hysteria and occupy everyone's attention in council space, allowing the Reapers to start their upcoming shadow war in the Terminus systems.
