"Attention," EDI suddenly announced. "I am seeing an energy buildup in the Crucible." She said it both to her comrades waiting aboard the Normandy and to the Resistance in the Underground. Everyone had been wondering when (and if) the Crucible would work. For a few terrible minutes, terrible even for her, it had seemed like the Crucible was a complete failure.

It was a little strange, as always, being in two places at once, with Jeff as the Normandy and with the Resistance under a veritable biotic canopy as the Reapers tried to punch their way into the Underground. Already, husks—presumably those shipped in from other areas, in direct contradiction to the Reapers' usual tactics—kept slipping in through the holes in the ceiling. So far, they'd all been met by the Resistance' gunfire before they got themselves sorted out from dropping in. She didn't expect that to last too long. Sooner or later, the Reapers would realize there were losing assets and where. Then would come the swarms.

EDI glanced around her, aware that she could easily abandon this mobile platform whereas the organics could not. It was one reason she stayed with them: because they couldn't run, even if she could. And she would not, because she had sided with them.

She did not look forward to experiencing the destruction of this platform—

Then cut the thought off abruptly. It wouldn't help anyone.

She wished she had been part of one of the Stiletto teams; Horatio had already made it clear, privately, that it would be glad of another AI's assistance. She was different from the geth, might have a different outlook and perspective, designed for cyberwarfare as she was. But she could do nothing as it was to help Horatio search for this Intelligence, which it was convinced was present and somehow important to the situation.

With her sensors aboard the Normandy, she took a closer look at the Citadel. Something was definitely happing out there now, something definitely weird because the readings and feedback she was getting was pretty much garbage, data devoid of meaning or purpose. Perhaps it was like a turian trying to read asari script with no prior knowledge of the language or alphabet.

Suddenly, the Crucible lit up, energy thrumming through it, turning it from a cold object in space to a star for those with senses to see such things. The surge of garbage data she was getting from the station increased and intensified, ballooning out in a nebulous cloud.

EDI's physical mouth dropped open as she ceased moving, aware only of a screaming noise that something inside her heard and understood. She was aware of whatever the Crucible was doing, using the Citadel, the Prime Relay, as a giant broadcasting dish.

There was something ahead of the scream, something that sliced into her consciousness like a scalpel thrown at high speed into a corkboard, caused her platform to collapse to the ground, caused her consciousness to shudder and shake. She was vaguely aware of Jeff and others screaming for her, vaguely aware of code within the sense-overloading barrage she found herself faced against with no defense, no preparations. She knew, without knowing how, that the code in the mind-clogging barrage was…for Reapers.

But she wasn't a Reaper. If she could have wept, she felt sure the tears would have slid from her eyes. She carried nugget of their code but she was not a Reaper.

She was EDI…

-J-

The closest thing Joker had ever experienced was the time EDI had kicked Dr. Core out of the mobile platform without warning everyone about it…only this time it was worse. The whole ship seemed to shudder, power going off and coming on, engines going off and coming on, lights, life support, everything fluttered and shook and shivered until it seemed to him that EDI was having the mother of all seizures. He'd never see a real epileptic episode before, but he felt sure that if there was any organic equivalent to what he was witnessing, it was probably a seizure.

The ship shuddered and jolted, half powering up, power cutting off, coming back on to full functionality.

"EDI? EDI! Talk to me!" he shouted, half wanting to throw off his harness and make his way down to the AI Core, but knowing he didn't dare leave the ship without a helmsman…though what he could do with the engines refusing to run properly…

Suddenly, the whole ship went dead, all the lights went off, he felt sure life support was off. Several people, who had apparently tripped or fallen during the Normandy's convulsions, picked themselves back up.

Javik's biotics flared, casting a weak, ghostly green light over everything.

"EDI?" Joker asked into the stunned, terrified silence. "EDI, are you there? Please answer me..."

A fan suddenly switched on, sending a faint current through the air.

"…I am…here…" But the voice sounded incredibly feeble, dazed, certainly not her usual self.

"Are you okay? What happened?" he demanded.

"I…don't know…I…I am not…"

Joker undid his harness. Everyone moved out of his way. "Can you run the elevator?"

"I…think so…I-I am frightened, Jeff…"

"Just keep talking to me," Joker encouraged, forcing back the icy shiver those three words 'I am frightened' caused him. "It's going to be okay. I'll meet you down in the AI Core and we'll get this sorted out."

He wasn't sure this was the truth, but if it wasn't he'd be damned before he admitted it.

"Thank you…please hurry…"

A clunk, as if the life support, which had briefly fluttered back on, turned off again.

Dr. Chakwas had to help him force the door to the AI Core open, but she did so without question.

"EDI?" Joker called, regarding the hardware that housed EDI's vast intelligence. "EDI, come on…I set a speed record getting down here for you…"

Nothing happened.

Joker swallowed, then numbly made his way to EDI's bed, picked up Pinocchio, and tucked it on top of her hardware.