Omega was a rather curious place. The internal structure was a hollowed-out large asteroid dating back to the days of the Protheans. Despite being mainly depleted, the eezo reserves were still rich enough to have attracted interested prospectors. Little by little the palce had grown, and today it was a sprawling mess of sentient lifeforms from all walks of life. Some people referred to it as the naughty sister to the Citadel. Jack, however, just saw it for what it was: The traverse's biggest shithole. Not that it didn't suit her, but she was self-aware enough to see it for what it was.
One particular quirk of the place was the fact that shit sank to the bottom. There were internal borders, literal in some cases, and figurative in others, and they usually followed along the different levels' borders. With the exception of the higher levels, which were too wide to be easily controlled that way, and where Aria hid, sitting on her pathetic little throne. And because of these borders, each level was quite distinctive, and attracted different kinds of scum. Little fiefdoms inside Aria's kingdom. And if one went deep enough, there was enough shit that it wasn't worth it for anyone to actually establish their own.
That's how deep the fucking place was. And it stank to high heaven. As they walked through, all kinds of things scurried away. Not that they were being stealthy. It wasn't her style.
"Hey boss," Taleken called. "Shouldn't we discuss a plan?"
"I have a plan," Jack retorted. "Go in there and kick everyone's asses, including the dumbass'. Got a problem with it?"
She heard the low, rumbling laughter from Wurdak, and faintly the under-the-breath grumbles from Taleken. Good. He knew when to shut up at least. The ramp took them down to the level, and off towards the east side of the platform. It was cramped in there, all lower levels were. This one was specially bad. A rat's nest of narrow spaces between blocky spaces divided into infinitesimally small quarters. The kind of place someone made a mint out of renting to desperate losers for every credit they were worth.
"Entrance is ahead," Taleken announced, pointing ahead. A rust covered door that looked as flimsy and nondescript as the rest of the environment. "Door's actually reinforced, they have a secu-"
"Don't give me that shit, can you open it or not?"
With a toothy grin, the turian pulled a spike out of the webbing of his armor. "I don't bring problems, boss. I bring solutions."
"Fucking great," Jack replied flatly. "Let's go then."
They made it past the other doors on the corridor, and as they walked past the last one, two turrets popped on both sides of the door, The fact that she had been expecting some shit like that didn't take from the surprise, or the rush of adrenaline that hit her body as bullets started to hit her biotic barrier. Without slowing down she concentrated, dark energy swirling around her, and let loose a biotic shockwave that nearly ripped the turret off its base, while the other one came under fire from her two companions. Without even blinking, she stepped right behind the krogan, shamelessly using him for cover, and pulled her shotgun free. Before she could shoot anything, however, the second turret spluttered and died, and Taleken went straight for the control panel. Wurdak, on the other hand, stood in front of the door, gun in hand and body posture like a varren ready to bolt at the first sign of a thrown shoe.
Once again confirming what she already knew. She hadn't met a krogan capable of stopping and thinking about what they were doing when a fight was involved. She grabbed him by the back and, with a good dose of biotic aid, pulled him aside behind the wall opposite of Taleken.
"Hey!" the krogan rumbled, turning to face her.
"Shut up and stay there until I say so, it's my goddamn show," Jack replied, pointing a finger at his face.
She saw the wave of emotions play on the krogan's face, so she kept her biotics on hair trigger. But, to her surprise, the krogan backed down without any need for further escalation.
"Whatever you say boss," he replied. Annoyed, but compliant. That's how she liked 'em.
"Taleken, how is it going?"
"Almost done," the turian replied.
"Good. Go in when I say so, not a second earlier."
The turian gave her a side glance but kept working. She should have been glad that she had them so well trained, but she didn't. Really, it was all the dumbass' fault, what the hell did he go and get himself kidnapped for? And why the hell was she the one to go in and get him out of trouble? She was going to kick his ass three ways till Sunday.
"Get ready," Taleken called.
Jack got herself right next to the door, gun at the ready. Breaching into closed places, that brought back memories. Many of them good, others not so much. She had done her share of piracy out in the Terminus, and enjoyed every bit of it. And it was that initial breach that gave her the best thrills. Or at least, used to. After a while, it started to become all too predictable.
The door finally opened, and Jack turned her head away as the initial barrage of shots came through. Just wait for it. Give it a moment. Wait for the lull in the-
There.
She turned the corner, biotics flaring up, and threw the biggest, widest biotic push she could, jumping back into cover as bullets pinged her barrier. Her maneuver was followed by a confused cacophony of screams, then the unmistakable sound of a grenade going off. Followed by screams of pain.
All too predictable.
"Let's go!" she yelled, and led the way in.
That was the moment, the hardest to predict. She had seen people's heads blown off by lucky shots from crews that were in complete disarray, and even had had to leg it and run away from ships that looked like the plainest cargo ship the galaxy had ever seen. This time she managed to make that first step safely. The door opened straight into a single long room, with upturned furniture serving as cover, and obvious signs of where the grenade had gone off. She started shooting her shotgun, making for the cover she could see to the side, while bullets pinged off her kinetic barrier. That, too, was part of the rush. The bellow of her krogan rushing into the room managed to dampen every other sound in the firefight as she fell into cover, and right before she did, she let lookse a shockwave aimed squarely at the spot where the grenade had gone off.
Pain and misery love company. Or at least she loved giving it to them.
"Hell of an entrance!" Taleken yelled as he, too rushed in and fell into cover nor far from her.
"More shooting and less talking!" Jack snapped back.
Truth to be told, it was a shooting gallery. Wurdak had broken through the enemy line, and they were in a complete panic. They seemed to be humans, as far as she could see. They were shooting at the krogan, some were trying to shoot at her, nobody seemed to know what to do.
Nobody seemed in charge.
That bothered her, but it was a vague feeling of something not being right. She had more important things to worry about, such as taking down all the people firing at them. She pumped the closest one full of ammo with her shotgun, then finished him off by giving him a biotic push that saw him turn into an improvised projectile to take his nearest companion down. The clash was loud, and looked suitably painful. Suckers. With no biotics on their side, it was a matter of swatting down the flies one after another. Someone's brains were splattered by a well placed burst from Taleken's assault rifle, and once Wurdak's shotgun started tearing into bodies with the gory ferocity only a krogan is truly capable of, the remaining combatants turned and tried to flee.
Bad idea.
Once they took down those easy targets, they were left with a lone surviving prick. He dropped his gun, fell on his butt, and pushed back until he was against a wall. As he did, all three of them converged onto him, guns at the ready and not feeling particularly charitable.
"P-p-please don't shoot! Don't kill me! We haven't done anything!" the man yelled.
"Where's Morgan?" Jack said, pointing her shotgun straight at the man's face.
"W-w-who?"
"I don't have time for this shit," Jack replied, and pressed the barrel of her gun on the man's cheek.
"AAAAAAH I swear I don't know what you're-"
"You do," Taleken replied flatly. He lowered himself, squatting down to be eye level with their prisoner, and spoke in what almost sounded like a tired tone. "My information is extremely reliable. Morgan came through here, and never left. Do yourself a favour and don't piss off my boss any more than she is already," he added, pointing at jack with his thumb. "Pretty sorry merc outfit you were running, consider this a chance at a better life and line of work."
"Mer- Mercs? Good fucking god we aren't... weren't mercs! We ran security for a few shops and shit, but that's it! I swear!"
Taleken just shook his head.
"Just look around! I'm telling the truth!"
There wasn't much to look around, in all fairness. It was a pretty empty space, with a couple of doors to smaller rooms that consisted of an office and a lavatory. Wurdak did the checking while Jack and Taleken kept their guns on the prisoner, and came up empty.
"Not much here, just a bunch of pyjaks," the krogan said.
"See? I told you! Please just let me go, I swear I don't-"
"Or that's what they want us to think," Wurdak interrupted. His ugly krogan smile somehow more menacing due to the amount of blood - not all of it his - that was covering his face. "One thing you learn about Omega, there are many places for a rat to hide."
He turned around, facing what appeared to be a rock wall. It didn't seem out of place, simply because the building was pressed against the rock layer of the interior of Omega, and without any warning, charged straight at it. The resounding boom of krogan clashing against wall had a hollower than expected sound, and while he didn't quite push through like a character out of a children's cartoon, he noticeably bent inwards what happened to be some sort of hidden door.=
There was a moment of pause where everyone's attention was on the newly found pathway, then the man snatched at the barrel pressed against his face while he thought he had lost her captors' attention. Jack reacted almost by instinct, biotics flaring as she turned around and threw a biotic push with all her might. The dark energy attack hit the man on the face, and his head turned into a girsly red paste splattered against the wall.
Jack blinked and shook her hand in disgust, dropping a few errant bits that had managed to land on her.
"Idiot," Taleken muttered. "They were probably just hired to sit there and put a front. Whoever is waiting on the other side of that," he pointed at the hidden door, "is likely to be a lot more competent."
"I sure as shit hope so," Jack replied.
The smell of Omega was starting to get to her. It could be the fact that she hadn't really smelled anything in two years and some change. It could be that coming back from the dead made a person's sense of smell that much more sensitive. Jacob had suggested they start by visiting Aria, since she seemed to have something to say to them, but Shepard would rather get down to business. The so-called queen of Omega would have to wait her turn.
For now, they were off to one of the deeper levels, where this "Jack" ran a bar. A bar. To be truthful, if it was a shitty little hole in the wall with loud music and bad lighting, she had half a mind to ditch the mission and just spend the rest of her life in there. Or at least get to the bottom of a bottle of hard liquor. The other half of her mind knew it was just her particular brand of ridiculous escapism. There was work to be done. She was in the middle of a mess that would take her a long time to untangle, but she couldn't just tear it in half like Alexander of Macedon. Besides, bullets were more her style, not swords.
At least the new Normandy had a proper bar. Only thing lacking was someone who could mix a decent cocktail.
She looked around as they walked the dirty streets of Omega. She felt like they were being observed, but she couldn't quite figure out who. Many eyes followed them as they made their progress. Many more averted themselves as their owners scurried away into the shadows. As she looked around, scanning for threats, there was this brief glimpse of something that moved out of sight, but she could never catch.
One of Aria's goons, maybe. Or maybe not.
"That's the place," Jacob said, getting her attention back. "But it seems closed."
Shepard looked around. Shitty as it was, Omega looked quite busy and active.
"Weird, this Jack of yours didn't sound like a nine to five kind of criminal," Shepard said. She still wasn't convinced it was a good idea, but at that point, she probably trusted a violent felon with poor impulse control more than she trusted Cerberus.
"She isn't. I didn't think this place closed at all," Jacob replied.
Shepard led the way to the door, and finding no obvious means to call inside, resorted to banging on the metallic frame as loudly as she could.
Repeatedly.
As expected, it wasn't long before she got a reaction. What she didn't expect was the telltale sound of weaponry and armored targets moving towards them. She had her gun out the instant the first armed turian came into view, and to her relief, both Jacob and Zaeed had their guns out in a flash, too.
"Drop them!" the turian shouted, as more of them came out of the supposedly closed bar.
"Someone is dropping all right," Shepard replied coolly. "I can assure you it won't be me."
"Wait, we're here to see Jack!" Jacob called. "I'm a friend of hers!"
To Shepard's surprise, there was a general peal of laughter coming from their assailants.
"Granted, she doesn't really do friends," Jacob added.
"We're here to see Jack," Shepard said, her commanding voice taking charge of the conversation. "We weren't planning on shooting anyone, but if that's what it takes, then that's what you'll get."
Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind, the tally of anger-to-brain for her life went up by one.
"Sure," the turian said. "Just as we were expecting an attack, you just happened to show up to talk to the boss. What coincidence."
"Yeah, story of my life," Shepard replied without even blinking. That kind of coincidence was just a Tuesday for her. "I've been in Omega for less than an hour. I'm already sick of the smell, sick of the people, and last I heard we were coming here to meet this Jack at some bar, which was perfect because I sure as hell could use a goddamn drink right now. Instead we get guns to our face, no drinks, and I'm really not having a good day pal. So stop pushing it."
She could just feel the looks the other two were giving her. By her estimation, Jacob was probably not sitting all too well in his underwear, but Zaeed's body language seemed to say he was amused by the whole thing. Given his line of work, probably not his first time in a situation like that. There were six people total around them. Two turians, four humans. The one who seemed to be in charge hadn't broken eye contact with her. After a suitable length of time, he made a slight move with his gun. The barrel came down a fraction of an inch. Not enough to stop aiming at her, but enough to be a gesture. Slowly, she mirrored it. And finally, very slowly, the two of them lowered her guns.
Part of her was a little disappointed by the outcome.
"If you're not lying, you have pretty bad timing, human," the turian said.
"Story of my life," Shepard replied, and not without sincerity.
"Is Jack in trouble?" Jacob said.
The turian turned to him, and Shepard could hear some chuckles coming from the rest of the turian's crew.
"You sure you know the boss?" the turian said.
"Don't mind the kid," Shepard said. Damn but he was wet behind the ears. She was going to have to straighten him up. As she talked, something caught her eye, far behind the turian. That was definitely the barrel of a gun, a long one at that. It was maybe a hundred yards away. But it wasn't aimed at her. And a moment later, it pulled back behind the cover and disappeared. Dammit, she didn't like it one bit, but she had to carry on. Someone was definitely watching them. "So what the hell's going on? You in a turf war or something?"
"Or something," the turian replied. Really? Tight-lipped like that? He seemed to catch her thought, because he continued, in a slightly more relaxed tone. "Boss doesn't pay me to think or ask questions. We're keeping this lovely place safe, that's quite enough for us."
She had a few choices now. She could go look for whoever it was that was following them. She could wait for this Jack to show up. She could go talk to her highness the bitch queen of Omega. Well, maybe all of that could wait.
"So are there drinks on offer or not?" Shepard said.
The turian laughed, at least. Guess she was getting that drink after all.
Taleken hadn't been wrong. The mercs deeper in the base were noticeably better than the idiots they had wiped the floor with upstairs. Wurdak was out of commission. Not dead. Probably. But down for the count. He had done the push down the stairs and taken enough bullets to tear a new door through that fake wall, but he had gotten them in. After that, it had been a matter of blowing up the inside and not leaving anywhere for their opponents to hide. She felt tired, in pain, the adrenaline high was starting to wear off, but she felt fucking great. It was the best thing after sex, and even that was arguable depending on who the sex was with. Her biotics needed a bit of a rest, the amp was hot enough that it was feeling like it wanted to sear her skin, but it was a familiar pain. She could deal with it.
They didn't really need to go through all that. The last two assholes had holed up in a small room and were of no threat, and she even knew where to go find the dumbass. But she liked a well finished job. They had made her work for it, so now they were going to pay.
"How much longer?" she asked impatiently.
"One of them is good with tech," Taleken replied. "I'm working on it."
The fucking lock. She thought about going around and looking for explosives, some of them had tried to throw grenades after all. But leaving Taleken alone was a risk if they had eyes on them, and both of them leaving meant the two assholes would have the run of the place. No, she was stuck there;
Freaking dumbass.
"Hey boss," her comms chirped. Cantus. The hell did he want? "You busy? We got a couple of people here who say they know you."
"Yeah? And why should I care?" Jack replied.
"Jack," a familiar voice came through. "It's Ja-"
"The fuck do you want Cerberus?" she snapped through the comms, loud enough that they probably heard her from inside the room. She didn't much care.
"I'm with-"
"You know what? Fuck you! I don't give a shit!" she snapped again. "You fuckers fucked me over, did it again, I gave you a fucking chance after all that and you fucking failed too. I don't give a shit what you want, get the hell out of my bar or I'll have my guys shoot you where you stand!"
"Jack," a female voice came through. She didn't recognize it.
"And who the hell are you? Is this a party line or some shit?"
"I'm Commander Shepard," she replied.
"Com... Bullshit," Jack replied. "We dragged that bitch's body out of the- Shit, didn't Cerberus throw her into a fucking planet or some shit?"
"Yeah, well, since when is Cerberus trustworthy?" the woman replied. "But I am Shepard, and I'm recruiting for round two against the Collectors. I need people who can hold their own, and even better if they have experience against them. Your name made the top of the list."
She listened, half angry and half confused. What the hell was going on? Taleken looked back and gave her a signal. He was ready. She gritted her teeth as she focused her boitics, her amp still feeling hot against her neck. The instant the door opened, she let loose a huge shockwave, just as the people inside started shooting blindly through the opening. Her attack had a much stronger effect than te returning fire, and the cries of pain coming from the room let her know.
And still Shepard kept yammering in her ear.
"I read your dossier, so I get you're not exactly friends with Cerberus, but I'm the one running this show."
Taleken had moved into the room, so she followed, shotgun in hand. It was a one-sided event as the two of them took down the badly wounded mercenaries. Damn. She wanted to at least enjoy that moment, but Cerberus had had to come and spoil it.
"You're in charge? I bet the Cheerleader loves that," Jack replied.
"The... who?" Shepard said.
"That'll be Miranda," Jacob replied.
There was a pause. And then, to her surprise, Shepard started laughing. Not a small chuckle, oh no. It sounded like she was about to piss her pants laughing. Taleken looked at her in confusion, but Jack just waved him down. Time to get the dumbass out and get the hell out of there. As they made their way towards the cells, Shepard continued talking.
"Love it. Anyway, no, it's not the Cheerleader in charge. It's me, and you better believe it. If you have some account settling to do with Cerberus, I'll arrange it. And you better believe I will."
Believe, believe, what the fuck was going on? She didn't know shit about this Shepard, and she was talking to her like she was the goddamn queen of the galaxy. It wasn't hard to find the cell where the dumbass was being kept, and what hit her as soon as they opened was the smell. It stank in there. Shit, was he dead? Nah. It stank, but dead bodies stank a lot worse. He was laying on the ground, dirty and soiled. She could hear mumbling, too. As soon as she saw his face, she understood. The vacant stare, pale face, somewhat bloodshot eyes, he was on something. And a lot of it, probably.
"Check him out," she ordered, and Taleken immediately followed through, omni-tool in hand. "Look, Shepard, or whoever the fuck you are. You have no idea what you're up against. You need a goddamn fleet, not a biotic and a bunch of Cerberus assholes."
"Maybe, maybe not. But I'm not planning on dying a second time. So, what do you say? We even got a bar for the ship this time."
A fucking bar, really? Dammit all. She watched as Taleken went over Morgan. No, he wasn't looking good at all. She knew her own limits when it came to doing all kinds of drugs, and he looked like she knew she had looked at some point, back before she found those limits. That dumbass was going to be the bane of her existence. But at least he'd be happy if that Shepard was really who she said she was.
Wait, did he fucking know?
"You have a doctor in that fancy ship of yours?" Jack said.
"Eh, sure. Why?"
"There's a dumbass here who's going to need one," she grumbled. "I'm not saying I'm in, but Cerberus fucking owes me. And if you don't come through, I'm going to start taking payment in fucking heads."
"You and me both," Shepard replied. "Dock 14 on level 31, I'll let them know you're coming. Looking forward to working with you."
"You have no idea who you're dealing with," Jack retorted.
"Indeed. That's the fun part."
Jack's face scrunched in annoyance. What a crazy bitch.
It had been a nightmare.
It hadn't. It had been real. I felt like utter, complete, and absolute shit. Right now, I couldn't even eat. I still had trouble believing what I was seeing was real. I was aboard the Normandy. Chakwas had woken me up, and been taking care of me. At first, I thought it was another one of those drug-fueled hallucinations. It had been a complete nightmare. Truly. I could make a bit more sense now that some of that shit had been flushed out of my system. Literally having arguments with Saren and Nazara, even though they were both dead. Shepard, too. Even Mika. Ye gods, seeing her again like that, and the things she... No, I couldn't bear to think about that again. I didn't want to think. I felt sick every time I did.
The freaking AI had been in there, too. That one made even less sense. Everyone who had shown up had been... well, complete and utter dicks, really. Got hammered all day long by them about my many, many shit moments and shortcomings. But the AI? Shit, she had been almost polite. Apologetic even. Sorry that she had done...
Actually, sorry about what she was doing. Doesn't fucking make sense.
"I'm afraid this is only temporary," Chakwas said, breaking my mental recap. "It should flush the majority of the drugs off your system, but the withdrawals will be quite unpleasant."
I looked at the IV bag hooked to my arm. It was pale orange. No idea what was in it, but I felt a lot better as soon as it started dripping in.
"I know it's early," Chakwas continued. "But do you have enough energy for a little chat?"
"I- Ugh," I tried to swallow, finding it hard. "I suppose," I finally said, my voice hoarse.
"Well, this is Yeoman Kelly Chambers," Chakwas said, and pointed to the side. Short haired redhead, kinda took me a moment or two to place her. "She's our counselor aboard the Normandy."
"You can call me Kelly," she said, smiling. "You've been through quite an ordeal, mister Morgan."
"Yeah, you can say that," I said, and coughed again.
"I'll give you two some privacy," Chakwas said, stepping aside and closing the curtain around my bed.
Kelly Chambers. I made an effort to try and remember. I mean, the whole "you have a new message" thing was pretty stupid, but there was more to her. Wasn't she...?
"Roy. Can I call you Roy?" she started speaking, her usual chirp voice I started to remember fast. "I'd like you to tel me about what happened. I know it won't be easy, but-"
"I don't think so," I interrupted her.
She smiled. Not a laugh or a funny smile, kind of... It almost looked practiced. Like she was trying to put me at ease. Knew what I was doing somehow. Only she didn't have a clue, not yet at least. Because right now all I wanted was to close my eyes and pretend for a week or two that nothing in the world was wrong. That I was on a holiday and the galaxy was just fine, thank you very much. And the last thing I wanted was to just open up and give the Illusive Man's handpicked onboard spy everything she wanted to hear.
"I know it's not an ideal setting, but I think you need help, Roy. And I really am here to help."
"Look, right now, I don't really want Cerberus sticking their nose in my business. I know why you're here."
"Do you?" she said, and sounded a little surprised. In a kind of curious, non-worried way. "I'm here to help. Why do you think I'm here?"
"You're the Illusive Man's personal little spy. quite frankly, it's pretty fucking low to get a so-called counselor to spy on the crew."
"Wow," she said, her cheery demeanor not breaking. "Where did that come from?"
"Oh you're denying it. That's fine, I'm sure you can explain it to Shepard and she'll be just fine with it."
"Look, Roy, I'm not someone's spy. My duties as the ship's counselor are to look after the mental health of the crew, that's all. I'm not using any of that information for anything nefarious. I take those duties very seriously. And I'd prefer if you don't go putting crazy ideas like that in Shepard's head."
"Yeah, crazy. Who do you think she's going to believe, you or me?"
As we talk, we could hear some hubhub outside the medbay. That ruckus became much louder as the door to the medbay opened, and a rapid stomping of feet was followed by a hand ripping the privacy curtain right off the rails. And there she was. Curly blonde hair. Much longer than I remembered. The gaut appearance. That scar through the eyebrow. That was Shepard. I had seen her often during my hallucinations. Looking very different. But that angry expression on her face, it took me a moment to realize it was real. A moment that she used to reach back and sock me across the jaw.
"You son of a bitch!" she yelled, Before I could even blink, she grabbed me by the hair, and I felt something I had become disturbingly familiar with. The barrel of a gun pressed against the back of my head. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow your fucking brains off!"
"What t-"
"Commander!" Chakwas yelled. "What are you doing? Please put the gun down!"
""Put it down?" Shepard snapped. "This bastard sold me out! It's all his fucking fault!"
Sold her out? Shit, what does she think happened? Hell, what did Cerberus tell her?
"Shepard, I-"
"SHUT UP!"
I gulped, quite frankly not knowing what to expect. My face hurt, but that wasn't quite as important as the thought of that gun pressed against my head. After all that, was it going to end like this? Shepard blowing my brains out in the Normandy's medbay, not even an explanation? It didn't sound like Shepard. But then again, how much did I know about what Shepard was like after being put through the ringer and brought back to life completely filled with Collector implants and who knows what else?
And she's blaming me for that.
I don't know how long it took. An age and a half. Eventually, she pulled the gun back and let go of me. I ventured a look back. She was looking at me with real fire in her eyes. Kelly and Chakwas had pulled back.
"Get him to the brig. I don't want him anywhere else in the ship."
"Commander, he still needs treatment," Chakwas said.
"Brig," she insisted, not breaking eye contact. "I'll deal with him."
With that, she turned around and left, and Chakwas immediately took off after her. Maybe to plead my case, or at the very least stop her from coming in with a gun to finish off the job next time. I hoped, at least. Kelly came closer, and for just a moment, I saw the cheery facade fall from her face. That smile was a lot sharper now.
"Well, well. How the wheel turns," Kelly said.
Son of a bitch.
Two years of work down the drain. More, of course, if she was to consider all the time she spent with them before they put her in the Lazarus Cell. It was she who first suggested cloning tech. It was she who put together the team. It was she who designed the entire freaking project Miranda had only been too happy to claim credit for. The memory implants had been a perfect opportunity to re-create Shepard but better. Harder. Sharper. Disabuse her of her silly notions about aliens and realize that none of them could be trusted where the future of humanity was at stake. But no, Miranda insisted she wanted the clone to be as close to the original as possible. Despite the fact that she knew the Council had swept her death under the rug, practically thrown a party once they got rid of her. Despite the fact that Shepard had left her human crew to die on Virmire and kept the aliens safe and sound. She needed to do better if she was going to be humanity's hope.
But no. Not Miranda. And as their disagreements grew, so did the surveillance on her. In the end, she had had little choice. Either get out, or meet an untimely demise. She tried to take the clone with her, too, but she hadn't managed. Somehow, Miranda had known about his co-conspirators. All of them. Even Wilson, the mild-mannered, least-suspicious-ever nobody had been caught and summarily executed by the ice queen. In the end, the only reason she had managed to escape was the copious amount of credits she had spent getting her backup-for-backup plan in place.
The Hibiscus. The Alliance had somehow decided to test a smaller Tantalus drive on it after the destruction of the original Normandy and subsequent reports from her crew about the "failed" attempt at rescuing Commander Shepard. The small and agile ship had proven more capable in the face of overwhelming odds than the substantially more expensive Normandy. She had redirected an obscene amount of credits from the robotics operational budget to acquire that particular ship.
And, thus, here she was. A small space station with a crew of mercs who had managed to bail her out. Her and the only price she had managed to steal.
She looked inside the Collector stasis pod again.
Shepard.
the original. The one Miranda had given up on. More machine than Shepard, really. She had to find a way to succeed where Miranda had failed. She knew damn well she wasn't the one to do it herself, but if there was one thing she was definitely the best at, it was finding the right people for the right job. Despite her considerable ego and the skills to back it up, Miranda wasn't the only person in the galaxy capable of tacking that particular challenge.
"Dammit all," she muttered, turning and heading for the restroom. "It's all going to hell in a handbasket."
Escaping the Lazarus Station hadn't been easy. She was exhausted, but was still in no position to relax. The merc band she had hired were good, but were still only mercs. She needed to recruit a good team, one that could be depended on based on ideas, not credits. She still had access to Cerberus resources. Or so she hoped. They couldn't have possibly closed all the backdoors she had made for herself. But she was against the clock.
She finished, washed her hands, and headed out, already thinking about the next steps. She was so caught up that it took her a moment too long to realize something was out of place. the pod. It was open.
"What the-"
She reacted by instinct when she felt movement behind her. But her elbow was expertly parried and pushed. She took a step away from her assailant, already reaching for her gun, but it was too slow. It was almost supernatural how quick that person moved. grabbing her by the shoulder and pushing her. She lost her footing as her attacker tripped her, and as she fell, strong hands grabbed her arms and twister them against her back. She yelped in pain, until she was slammed against the floor, belly first and losing her breath.
It took an eyebling and she was pinned down on the ground, face down and with someone basically sitting on her back.
"What... Shepard?" she said. "Why... How..."
"Well, well. What a surprise, Maya. To think you'd betray humanity like this."
"What? I haven't betrayed humanity! Shepard, I'm trying to help you!" she yelled. It was so confusing. What the hell was happening?
"Shepard you say? I suppose," Shepard said. The voice was Shepard's, that was for sure, but the cadence... "I thought I would be more... recognizable. I suppose it's only natural."
"You're... No, it can't be."
"Ah, enlightenment," Shepard said.
"Illusive Man," Maya said, her voice like ice.
The words were coming out of her mouth, but not out of her own volition. Someone was speaking through her. Illusive Man. She had a name, at least. And this woman. Maya? She didn't understand, but she didn't need to understand. She was an instrument of someone's will. That's all she needed to be. That's all she knew.
"You have cost us considerable time and money," she said, her words not her own. "But that is not the worst part. You endangered this mission. It is too important to risk it, the future of humanity is at stake."
"The future of humanity? You have aliens working with Shepard! You- Ackgh!"
Shepard grabbed Maya by the throat, one hand still pinning her arms against her back, and pressed enough to prevent her from talking. She felt the woman struggle, trying to free herself, but it was in vain. She knew her strength. And right now, it was considerably more than it had been, somehow. Definitely more than this Maya could fight against.
"It wasn't your place to make the choice, Maya. Or mine. It was Shepard's."
Mine? I don't understand.
"Regardless, this is the end of the line for you."
She pressed harder, squeezing Maya's neck. She could easily snap it, finish her off immediately, but it wasn't her decision. She was to die slowly. Thus, she continued, holding her in place. Maya struggled in vain, but it wasn't long before she started losing strength. She felt try to twist under her grip, her body contorting as her oxygen starved brain fired off random signals. It was an ugly way to go. She'd have preferred to finish it fast, the thought was clear in her mind, but she also knew she couldn't. That wasn't the order. It was perfectly natural for her to follow those orders, so she didn't think about it too much.
Maya finally went limp. Shepard kept her chokehold for a few minutes longer to ensure she was truly dead, then let go. She had more orders. Clear out the place, find out where she was, and return with whatever ship and resources Maya had taken from Cerberus. She had a pistol and no shields, but it wouldn't be a problem. It was a simple task. With the almost mechanical movements of long familiarity, she checked the gun, and fell into her combat stance, already heading for the door.
And somewhere in the dark recesses of her mind, a tiny part of Shepard's psyche was still her own. And it was screaming, demanding to be set free.
Author's Notes: I've done this scene about ten times, trying to decide how that first meeting between Shepard and Roy would go. What else would fall off it, and who else would get involved. Ironically, I was trying to cram too much into it, and I ended up just having it as straightforward and clear as it is now. More can follow later. So yeah, Shepard is not happy. Neither of them.
Okay, show of hands, who is surprised by the twist? I mean, I think I hinted at it enough using Miranda's notes during the time skip, but I know I kept it intentionally vague. So... Surprise! As I said, two for the price of one. Shepard and Shepard. This should be fun. For one of us at least :D
So! After this long spell trying to get this right, the rest of the chapters should cascade in a more straightforward fashion. Not exactly a spoiler about what to expect next (in fact, one of you dear readers already nailed it in one of the previous comments, so I'm happy it won't be a complete surprise, albeit it'll be a bit of a dick move).
By the way, the whole thing about Kelly not being who she says she is? Stole that from Raven Studios' "Mass Effect: Newton's Second Law". It's a great take on the character and makes more sense than the silly and completely out of place starry-eyed "I love all aliens so let me join this secret alien-murdering organization" Kelly of the game. It's a front, and one she trained for.
Meanwhile, if you'd like to give me a bit of support, I'd appreciate it greatly!
tinyurl (period) com (slash) y2q9cop6
(Still think FFnet sucks at hyperlinks).
Read the reviews! Been too long so it'd be awkward to answer when y'all probably don't even remember what you wrote haha, but thanks a lot!
Next time on My Effect: Convergence: Mutiny! An unwanted return! And Shepard turns her bitchiness up to 11. Look forward to it!