From Ashes
Chapter Thirty Six: Secrets of Lazarus
A/N: This chapter was fun to envision. I'm hoping that I squashed the mental reel down well enough in a word document. Let's findd out.
The station was under attack.
Miranda Lawson rushed a pair of mechs that were openly firing at one end of the corridor. Pistol in hand, she ramped up a barrier to act as a buffer against the projectiles and fired once at each of their chassis. Unfortunately, the security mechs had heavy fortification active, so the projectiles from her phalanx pistol bounced off of them. That left her to send a moderate biotic shockwave toward them. When they faltered, she deployed a heavy overload to their shields. Once their fortification was cracked wide open, she fired at them again with the pistol. Their chassis split open, and they toppled over. She then went for their heads.
It shouldn't have had to be this way.
In the wee hours, Miranda had been drifting off to sleep. It had been the first time she had really felt good about doing it since the whole fiasco with Wilson. She still didn't trust him, but that came standard; Miranda didn't trust easily in general. She had warned Jacob after the incident. While he had been reluctant, he agreed to keep an eye on Wilson. That had been the point at which she felt she could get a little rest. That had been her mistake. She couldn't have been asleep for too long: two or three hours at most. As soon as the first alert went off, her feet had hit the floor. She'd kept her science uniform nearby as well as her armor. In mere minutes, she was armed and heading for the exit to her quarters. Looking back, the thought hit her that it might already be too late. In the time it took for her to leave her quarters, Shepard could already be dead.
"Damnit!" She swore as a small group of security mechs nearly spotted her. The way she had chosen to go was blocked by a fire hazard. She would have no choice but to take them out.
That meant only one thing.
She retreated a few paces back, to ensure that she wouldn't be seen or picked up by the mechs' sensors, and activated her omni tool.
She hoped that the signal would go through. It had to.
Blackness, blissful blackness. It was honest, it was solid.
It was gone.
From that blackness, a red mist descended. Red mist that slowly grew brighter until its center was a faded dark pink. Then the sounds came.
Thunderous blasts, shrill sirens, and splitting sounds of shattering glass.
They became a steady din. Things that shouldn't be considered ambience were becoming commonplace. Then thee was the new one: a constant and rhythmic thudding. But it wasn't a sound, it couldn't be… She felt it.
A pulse that rocket through her each time she heard the thudding.
But why?
"Wake up, Commander."
Another sound joined the din. This one was higher pitched and tinny. It didn't leave waves that she could feel in its wake.
She
What was that? What did it mean?
"Can you hear me?"
Words. They were words. The things in the tinny sound were words.
A voice.
"Shepard."
That word, it was something she'd heard before, but the voice that she was hearing now hadn't been the one that had said it.
"Shepard!"
A name, her name. It had to be.
The red and pink hues changed to fiery yellow reflected on steel. Faces were looking back at her, and a hand reached out to her.
She couldn't take it.
Pain burned through the cold that surrounded her.
She was moving.
As time passed, things became more native: She was a woman, Shepard was her name, and she wasn't formless. She had a body. It was heavy, but she had a body. She'd tried to move it to take the hand that had reached out to her through the flames.
"If you can hear me, you need to move! This facility is under attack!"
Attack.
"Mayday, Mayday!"
The same voice she had heard calling her name from before…. "This is SSV Normandy! We've suffered severe damage and casualties from an unknown enemy!"
She was climbing stairs. They were metal, and she could feel extreme heat. Those same stairs rocked dangerously with another thundering blast. This time, she fell against a wall.
"Come on baby, hold it together… Hold it together."
No, she was here, not there.
She could feel her body lying on something; it was flat and could just be described as comfortable.
"Come on, Shepard! If you can hear me, I need you to move!"
"Lieutenant," A voice, her voice, cut through the haze, and that same ship that had been on fire bloomed back in full color in front of her. She could see them. Two people standing and one sitting. She knew one of the standing ones to be Presley. He and the huntress looked up; the latter being addressed.
"Commander," Selyna managed while still maintaining a barrier. "Has everyone else made it to the shuttles?"
"Everyone that's going to. It's alright, drop the barrier and get down to the last shuttle. We're getting out of here."
"Joker refuses to abandon ship." Pressly offered as he reached out to stabilize the asari. When she'd let the barrier down, Selyna swayed dangerously for a second. Braced by Pressly's grip, she nodded to him in thanks.
"Go, I'll get him, and we'll meet you down there."
"Understood, Ma'am."
"Joker, come on," She was approaching the chair. Joker, that had been the one that had shouted her name before. "We've got to get out of here-"
"No! I won't abandon the Normandy, I can still-"
"The Normandy's a twisting hunk of tin at this point." Normandy. That was the ship name. She was sure of it. Hearing herself say it made it more clear. "Going down with the ship won't change that."
"I-" Another, less violent, tremor. "Yeah, okay... Help me up." Joker turned his chair, and she got him to his feet. As he took one last look toward the helm, his eyes widened. "They're coming around for another attack-"
"Go, GO!" She got between him and the helm as the scorching yellow particle beam cut into the remains of the bridge. Glass and shards of metal were breaking away from the ship's interior and were being pulled out into space. She could feel the heat from the beam, and it encouraged her to throw knowledge of Vrolik's syndrome by the wayside.
Vrolik's Syndrome… How did she know about that?
The lack of gravity in the CIC was a blessing as she lifted him clean off the floor and proceeded back toward the shuttles. Hindered only by the explosions around her, she reached them in good time. His protests were duly noted, but a few broken bones was a good price to pay for one's narrow escape off of a smoldering warship. When she let him go, he free-floated into the shuttle; clumsily trying to secure his harness. Thankfully, Pressly was there to assist.
"Commander," Pressly's voice. She could hear the angry screeching of metal as it was being cut away by something.
The particle cannon..
"SHEPARD!" Joker's shout was added to the din around her. She could see his hand, as well as Pressly's outstretched, but nothing doing.
A final explosion caused her to let go, but not before she hit the manual release. The shuttle door closed and sealed before it was jettisoned away. This left her to be propelled in the opposite direction
Into blackness.
No, not blackness.
She opened her eyes.
She could still feel the tremors, but they weren't from the ship attack.
This facility is under attack!
Bright lights against a dark ceiling were the first thing she saw. With each tremor, they shook and flickered. When she went to move again, a wave of nausea hit her, followed by a load of pan. It caused her to do a full stop.
"Shepard," The tinny voice, ow registering as someone speaking over a comm system. "I know that your wounds aren't fully healed yet, but there's no time!"
She didn't have time to ponder what that meant. An explosion that sounded too close for comfort made her force herself to move. Clumsily, she got off of the gurney that she was on but she had to reach back and grip its rail for support to stabilize herself.
"There's a pistol in the locker nearby. Arm yourself quickly. I'll try and reach you."
The question she wanted to ask couldn't even form on her lips. Even the simple task of standing was nearly too much of a strain.
"There should be a stim injector on the table nearest you. Use it to get over the initial shock."
Head turning, she saw the injector with a blue indicator that it was a stimulant. Reaching out, she ignored the reflex to recoil. The arm she saw was scarred. When she picked up the injector, she immediately pressed it to her neck and injected.
The effect was immediate.
Heart rate, the thing that had been an even pulsing from earlier, began to slow down, and the pain subsided.
"Take it with you. There are a few more doses. You might need them before this is all over."
"Who are you?"
The voice she heard issuing from her lips almost made her flinch. It was rough and raw. She knew how she was supposed to sound, and that wasn't it.
"Miranda. It's all I can give you at this point." The voice sounded frustrated and almost desperate. "Arm yourself and head for the door. I'm keeping track of you as best I can, but I'm under fire. I'll try ad meet up with you as soon as I-"
"Miranda?"
"Warning,' A voice came from behind the door nearest to her. "Security breach in progress. Please surrender all firearms."
"Shepard, the mechs can't be trusted!" Miranda's voice again. "Use the pistol and fight your way through them. Hurry!"
Something within her snapped, and she darted for the locker. It had a pistol and a spare comm link inside. Picking up both, she went for the door. The world around her might have been going to shit, but she had accepted one thing as fact.
She was Shepard.
When the door opened, she saw an open hallway. There was shattered glass on the floor, but there were no hostile. Advancing, she found a few things on the floor. They didn't look like rubble or glass. Instinctively, she reached for her wrist and was grateful that an Omni tool was already there. Activating it, she scanned the things on the floor.
Thermal clips.
"Shepard, I forgot to mention: you'll need spare thermal clips for your pistol. They've changed from the thermal heat sink systems."
Shepard reached down and retrieved the three that she could see. Pocketing them, she started down the corridor. Already, she could hear weapons firing. Reaching a cross section, she looked to one side and saw that the door was warped by heat. It wouldn't' be a viable route. As she was about to head in the opposite direction, she heard shouts.
Approaching the door caused it to open. There was a pane of glass that she could see through, and Shepard spotted two man and a woman diving for cover; a hulking mech opening fire on them.
"Hey," One of the men called. He'd spotted her. "Hey! Over here!" He pointed toward the next intersection. There was a door there that led to that room.
She nodded. If it was possible, she would distract the mech to get them out. Proceeding toward the door, she heard static over her comm. While no words came through, Shepard assumed that it was Miranda.
"Say again." She managed.
Again, nothing came through. Keeping her mind focused on the three on the other side of the door, Shepard got to the door and opened it. While that didn't draw the mech's attention, it did catch that of the woman nearest. She was a blonde and was carrying an assault rifle. The man next to her was brown-haired with a neatly trimmed goatee. When he spotted Shepard, he tried to caution the man beside him, but it was too late. The third man had seen the door open and had bolted. Immediately, he was cut down by the mech.
"Michaels!" The woman called over the turret fire. "Damnit!"
Shepard didn't trust her voice to reach, so she simply shook her head. It meant that they shouldn't try what the other man had, and they didn't. The remaining man pulled something from his belt and looked at it thoughtfully. Shepard could see that it was a grenade. She couldn't tell the make of it, but she could see that the pin was still in it. Again, she shook her head. One grenade would just piss it off…
Unless…
She looked around the room and spotted something. It was a fuel line that ran to one of the smaller generators. While it wouldn't do much damage, it would distract the mech for long enough. Removing her pistol, she took aim with it. Before shooting, she nodded toward the line and then back to the two remaining people. Both understood.
She fired four shots. The first two got the mech's attention, but the second pair shattered the line. That sent fuel splattering all over the mech and the surrounding wall. The man lobbed the grenade in that general direction, and it got lodged between a crate and the mech. When it went off, the whole corner ignited.
That was their cue to run.
Once they had escaped the mech's gun range, they took a second to breathe.
"Can't thank you enough for that." The woman began.
"No kidding." The man agreed. "Thomas Hawthorne." He extended a shaking hand. Shepard took it.
"Goldstein." The woman followed suit. "Sorry," She shrugged after the handshake. "Jenny. Used to surnames only."
"Seryna Shepard." The first name came from a place she wasn't familiar with, but it felt right.
"Oh, believe me, we know who you are." Hawthorne managed a smile. It looked like it hurt though; he had a scuff across one cheek.
"Shepard," Finally, Miranda's voice came through. "Almost to your location, but-" A few shots were heard in quick succession. "Shit!"
She'd been spotted. Shepard nodded for the others to follow, and she headed for the only way ahead. When she reached the next door, they were met with a set of ten mechs. These looked to be more standard. Instead of being bulky, they were slim lined. They carried pistols.
"LOKI mechs." Goldstein clarified as they all dove for cover. "They've got the run of the place right now."
"Why? What happened?" Shepard checked the ammo in her pistol before preparing to take aim. "What set them off?
"Don't know." Hawthorne reloaded his rifle. "All we know is that they went apeshit this morning."
"Miranda said they couldn't be trusted." Shepard fired a few shots at the mechs, but the projectiles didn't get past their fortifications.
"Then she's already contacted you." Goldstein deployed a chain overload from her Omni tool to weaken the mechs' shields. When that was done, Hawthorne and Shepard fired precision shots at their chassis and heads. It took four of them out, but there were still six in the room. There were also more on the way.
"Reinforcements requested."
"It'll be a matter of time before the FENRIS get here." Hawthorne muttered.
"I know." Goldstein deployed another overload, and three more were sent to the ground.
The door on the opposite side of the room opened, and another dozen LOKI mechs came through. Others, that were low to the ground and on four legs, accompanied them.
"FENRIS are here.!" Hawthorne indicated the four-legged mechs. "Don't let them come too close."
"They won't." Shepard, while only half certain of what she was doing, rose and released a cluster of biotic energy. It expanded as it made contact with two of the FENRIS mechs and caught them in a vortex.
"Singularity, nice." Goldstein commented. "Should strip their shields too."
A few of the LOKI mechs walked toward the singularity field, and one of them made the mistake of getting too close. They too, were pulled into it. Concentrating, Shepard sent a moderate shockwave toward the singularity, and it detonated. The two FENRIS and one LOKI mech were torn to pieces. That still left fourteen LOKI and two FENRIS mechs. Shepard prepared to send another singularity their way, but Hawthorne stopped her.
"Hang on, do you hear that?" It was the sound of someone running. Shepard could hear it.
"Someone's coming." She stayed behind their barricade for a few seconds longer. The person running was wearing heels. She could hear them clipping as the person got closer.
When the door opened again, a woman with long blonde hair and a set of black and gold armor came barreling through it. She had several mechs behind her. Shepard noted that most of them were either damaged or showed signs of having been on fire. It didn't stop the woman though; nor did the dozen or so in her way. She had a biotic barrier generated and was using that to get around the mechs. Unfortunately, it was wavering.
Shepard rose again, sending a heavy singularity into the center of the cluster, and managed to avoid getting the newcomer trapped within it. Goldstein deployed another chain overload to distract those that hadn't been effected. While this was going on, the other blonde woman rounded the corner. When she turned around to face the mechs, she fired her pistol toward one of the pipes that ran along the ceiling. The casing cracked, and heavy wiring was exposed. Deploying a heavy overload, a surge of electricity went through and made contact with the mechs. Caught in the power coupling's discharge, they were flattened.
"Get fucked."
It was then that Shepard knew who this woman was. Her voice was easily recognizable.
"Miranda."
"Shepard." Miranda straightened up after seeing that the remainder of the mechs in their way had been destroyed. She looked familiar, but Shepard couldn't place where she had seen her. "I'm sure you have loads of questions, but they'll have to wait until we get to a more secure location." She then turned to Hawthorne and Goldstein. "Good, you made it here after all."
"Got the call last night and hauled ass." Hawthorne answered promptly. "Wha the hell happened here? As soon as our shuttle docked, security barricades came up."
"It's what I'm in the process of finding out."
"Anyone on this frequency?" A voice came over Shepard's earpiece, and it seemed that everyone else had heard it as well. Miranda responded.
"Jacob, status?"
"Pinned down with Wilson. We were trying to make it back to-"
"Shepard is with me." She cut him off.
"She's alive?" This time, another voice came through. Shepard vaguely recognized it as well.
"And kicking." Miranda answered again. This time, her jaw was set. "What is your location?"
"South of the labs. We got caught by a hoard of LOKI and FENRIS mechs. There are a few YMIR out and about as well."
"Yeah, we dealt with one of them." Goldstein muttered. Bastard took out Michaels."
"Keep moving. We'll meet you at the shuttles." Miranda said finally.
"We'll meet you there." The first voice, Jacob's, answered.
"Jacob Taylor." Miranda clarified as they moved forward. "He is the closest thing to a second that I have at present." She used a nearby terminal to cut power to the lines nearest them so that they could get through the door that she had just come through safely. "We'll have to double back through D Wing to reach the shuttles."
"Isn't that where security is the thickest?"
"It was." Miranda answered Goldstein's question. "I just came from there. Most of our security has been decimated. The ones that followed me here were add-ons from the lab entrance."
"Will Jacob and Wilson make it?" Shepard voiced this question. There were four of them here and just two, if one went by what was said, where they were.
"Jacob is resourceful." Miranda nodded as she pushed a door open manually. "So is Wilson, surprisingly." She said that last as more of an afterthought. "Jacob is a biotic, so he shouldn't have too much of an issue. While Wilson is more of a med-lab rat, he is good with defensive tech. They should be able to get through."
"You say that security was thickest the way we're going?"
"Well, it was thickest here." Miranda motioned to the area they were in. "The labs were the highest priority. That's where you were."
"Right." Shepard checked the ammo in her pistol and stayed on even ground with Miranda; Hawthorne and Goldstein flanking them and covering their back.
"Head left, and I'll go right." Miranda motioned in different directions when they reached the next room. "I'll cover the upper level while you go low. Goldstein, go with her. Hawthorne, you're with me. I have a feeling we've got a lot of opposition on the other side of that door."
"Copy."
Taking up position in the lower section of the large laboratory, Shepard could see diagrams, scrolling logs, and even holographic models of.a body. Different stations had separate sets of information on their displays, and at a quick glance, she recognized something that they all had in common. They were all labeled with the same subject number. Thoughts wandering slightly, she was jarred back to the present by the sound of a rail gun going off.
"Oh God…" Goldstein muttered. She was looking toward a glass pane where three people were being eviscerated by another of the hulking mechs.
"There's nothing we can do for them." Miranda's voice was barely audible. "Focus on the door. Mechs!"
The doors on the opposite side of the room had opened, and at least twenty LOKI and eight FENRIS mechs rushed in. They split into two groups and headed toward both levels of the lab. Shepard, while going easy on the biotics for the moment, targeted the mechs that were effected by Goldstein's overload or disruptor rounds. LOKI were easy enough to topple: they were top-heavy, slow to move, and were armed with pistols. The FENRIS were the bigger problem. Three broke away from the group and headed directly for Shepard herself.
"Keep your distance!" Hawthorne called out. He was dealing with one himself.
Shepard ramped up her biotics and delivered a heavy biotic punch straight to one of their sensors. Buffered by the barrier, the pain was minimal, and the mech was blinded. She turned it toward its two other fellows and let it attack them. It would buy them time.
"Out of ammo!" Shepard finally said after a few minutes.
"Nearly there," Goldstein added. "Final push!"
"Screw this." Shepard tossed the pistol aside and sent a heavy shockwave across the room. The mechs that remained had been effected by a heavy warp field from Miranda, and when the shockwave collided with them, they were blasted apart. It was done fast enough so that the mechs would be wiped out, but Shepard had taken a few shots in the shoulder.
"Med station." Miranda pointed out an object on the wall. "Jacob and Wilson should be on the other side of that room." She indicated the one where the YMIR mech was still stomping around. "Once we clear that, the shuttles should be just around the corner."
Miranda and the others restocked on their ammo, and that gave Shepard a moment to look around. The different stations scattered about had various audio logs recorded, and as she listened to them, something didn't sit well. Voices belonging to Miranda and Wilson played back over her earpiece, and they kept talking about a project and its subject. Finally, in one of the logs, a name was dropped, and it made her stomach clench.
"Our orders, while astronomically tall, are clear. We are to restore this woman to who she was at the time of the explosion: the same mind, morals, and the same personality. If we alter her in any way, if Seryna Shepard is even slightly different from the woman she used to be, the Lazarus project will have failed."
The Lazarus Project. The name itself gave away the goal. Lazarus had been a man who had been restored to life… Shepard let the recording replay. Their goal was to restore her, Seryna Shepard, to who and what she was before the explosion.
Fleeting glimpses of the metal skeleton that was the Normandy flashed before her eyes. Flames filled in where the barriers were still holding. She was too far away for drift to have been natural. She was cold.
"The fact that the brain is more or less physically intact suggests that we might have a microscopic shot in the dark."
That had been the precursor to the log entry.
Coupled with the cold, Shepard felt something else. A sudden pulse, and something collided heavily with her hardsuit. Blinking rapidly, she saw a sudden line of angry red text burn across her field of vision:
Hardsuit integrity compromised: Primary and secondary oxygen vats depleting. Estimated time until total loss: 00:00:30
No, that couldn't be right. It just couldn't.
She was floating, but she couldn't be; she could feel her feet on the ground. Those words were burned across her corneas, but she wasn't wearing a hardsuit. She could hear herself speak, but the words didn't make sense.
"You'll always have mine. Keep it safe…"
Her head was starting to ache. She could feel the pressure she was putting on her eyelids in order to keep her eyes closed. Finally, she forced herself to open them. She was met with the polished surfaces of the laboratory she had been standing in; the last line of the log she had been listening to playing in her ear.
"I refuse to let that happen."
"Shepard." That same voice, Miranda's voice, came from somewhere close by. Blinking, Shepard turned and found the other woman standing behind and just to the left of her.
"I was the subject of Project Lazarus." Giving voice to the thought made it all the more difficult to take in.
"The subject and the result." Miranda confirmed.
"That means…"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"Just over two years now." Miranda looked at what had drawn Shepard's attention. "I recorded that log on the day that I took over as project lead." She eyed the workstation, but Shepard couldn't make out her expression. "This wasn't how I had hoped you would find this out, but it's done."
"Was there a better way to find out that I've been gone for two years?" Slight irritation crept into Shepard's voice. It didn't phase Miranda.
"Unfortunately, no." Miranda took in Shepard's expression. "You remember something, don't you?"
"I'm starting to." With what she knew now, Shepard took the liberty of assuming that what she had seen was an actual memory. It was a bad one, given the content, but pieces of it were coming back.
"As curious as I am to see just what you remember," Miranda finally admitted. "It will have to wait. Jacob and Wilson had a little trouble, but they should be near the shuttles now."
"Yeah."
Shepard offered that as an answer, because she couldn't think of anything else. Her head was a rat's nest of information at the moment, and she needed something to focus on besides what she had just learned. Gripping her pistol in hand, she moved forward with Miranda and the others right behind. She could still hear the YMIR mech clunking around behind the glass. That in itself was enough to keep her mind on things. She spared a thought for those she didn't know.
Hopefully, Jacob and Wilson haven't crossed paths with one of those.
They got through the remainder of the labs well enough. The large mech they had seen earlier had been confined to the room it was locked in. A few LOKI mechs had been wandering the corridors, but they were easily sorted. By the time the four reached the shuttles' hangar, they expected to see Jacob and Wilson waiting on them. Unfortunately, the access corridor was empty.
"Jacob, what's your status?" Miranda opened a comm channel again once they had gotten past the security curtain.
"Almost there. Ran into more trouble."
"Nothing you couldn't handle." It wasn't a question.
"Nah."
"We'll have the shuttle prepped and ready for departure."
Miranda opened the door to the hangar and went toward one of the shuttles. As Shepard took in the hangar bay, she noticed that the shuttles weren't ones she was familiar with; the emblem on the side did look familiar, though.
"Cerberus."
The word left her before she really knew what she was saying. Images of creatures, ranging from rachni to mossy humanoids flashed before her eyes. Other images came after: A beacon surrounded by a ground vehicle and dead soldiers, a man with admiral's bars across his shoulders standing by a comm terminal, and that same man on the floor of a laboratory with needle marks and other various injuries.
"That's right." Miranda answered. "This is a Cerberus facility."
"Why would Cerberus want to bring me back?" Shepard couldn't quite wrap her head around it, but there was something between he and Cerberus that left them at odds. She'd seen that man, that admiral, both alive and dead. Cerberus had been involved somehow. She didn't know how she knew, but it was rooted into her head.
"Soon, trust me." Miranda said simply. "I know that's a lot to ask, seeing as you've just woken up in this hellhole, but you'll have answers soon." It was then that Shepard realized:
Miranda wasn't asking for her to trust her; she was asking for her to be patient.
Goldstein and Hawthorne took up positions on either side of the door leading into the hangar while Miranda began prepping the shuttle for takeoff. Once it was up and running, course was laid in, and she had stepped back out onto the launchpad, she approached Shepard again.
"Does the term 'the Illusive Man' mean anything to you?"
"It sounds familiar."
"He is Cerberus' founder." Miranda clarified. "When we leave here, we'll go somewhere more secure. You'll be able to speak with him directly."
Shepard nodded mutely. Something told her that whatever he had to say wouldn't change her opinion on the organization. It was engrained in her that she couldn't, and wouldn't, work for or with them. Trusting them was also out of the question. Now that she really paid attention, she saw the yellow emblem on Miranda's armor and on the others' uniforms. She hadn't made the connection before, because she had been too caught up in sorting out the mechs and her own thoughts.
"Miranda, we're approaching the hangar bay." Jacob's voice came over Miranda's earpiece. Shepard could hear it.
"Good. We're ready for departure." Miranda stepped away from Shepard and approached the door. Nodding to Hawthorne and Goldstein, she waited there. The door opened a moment later to reveal two men. One was dark-skinned and wearing medium armor in the same black and gold colouring as Miranda's. The other was wearing what looked like combat fatigues, like what Hawthorne and Goldstein were wearing. As soon as they got within touching distance of her, Miranda drew her pistol and pressed it to the latter's forehead before firing it. The man, presumably Wilson, fell to the ground; his head a mess of blood.
"What the hell, Miranda!" Jacob, the man still standing, advanced. "What was that for?"
"His just reward." Miranda lowered her pistol and holstered it.
"We've known Wilson for years!" He protested further. "Why?"
"He's the one that set the mechs loose on us." Miranda remained calm as she spoke. "He sold you that story about trying to get to security to stop it. It was all a ruse."
"How do you know that?"
"I saw his logs." She pulled something up on her omni tool and played it back for them all to hear. Shepard recognized the voice to be that of Wilson.
"Log update: The cost of this project is astronomical; over four billion credits so far, but no one seems to care that we've gone over-budget." Shepard listened and could hardly believe the numbers. Obviously, a lot of work went into this project, but how was this possible? "I don't know where the boss gets all of his money… Maybe it's better not to know. I just wish he'd kick a little more of it in my direction, once in a while."
"What does that prove?" Jacob asked after the log completed. Miranda gave nothing away.
"Keep listening."
"Log update: I still can't figure Miranda out. As project director, she should be ecstatic at the amount of progress we've made, but she's still the same old ice queen. Maybe she's afraid Shepard will become the new favourite, or maybe she really is just a pure, cold-hearted bitch."
That last made Miranda give a short laugh.
"Log update: The Lazarus Project is about to enter the final phase. It's taken nearly two years, but we did it! Shepard is alive. This is the most amazing achievement ever recorded I medical history. Maybe now, Miranda will show an ounce of appreciation for everything I've done."
"Sounds like he's looking for a pat on the back and more pay, but he's always been that way." Jacob shrugged.
"Be careful, or you'll miss the best part." Miranda remarked dryly.
"Heartrate is increasing, stats are pushing into the red zone… it's not working!" Wilson was either excited or frustrated. It was hard to tell which. Something was heard in the background, along with quick movement. Then: "Stats are dropping; levels are stabilizing."
"Shepard, I need you to lie still. Try not to move and remain calm. It will be over soon." Hearing Miranda's voice next, Shepard gave the blonde a side glance. She wore an odd expression. In the recording, her voice had been oddly calm, as if she had been speaking to a child that was at their first doctor's visit. For a second, their eyes met, but Miranda looked back down at her omni tool immediately after; an uncertain frown creasing her brow.
"That was too close." Wilson again.
"Do you realize what could have just happened?" Miranda again. This time, her voice rang with anger and frustration. "You planned this, didn't you, you smug bastard? You deliberately falsified the readings…"
"I didn't plan it, but it did ensure that she would regain consciousness." Wilson's response sounded off. He wasn't defensive about it, but he stood by it. "She was becoming aware of her surroundings."
"If I didn't need you to ensure that this project succeeds, I'd end your involvement right now."
"Unfortunately for you, you do need me." There was a pause, footsteps, and then a door closed. Then Wilson continued speaking.
"God-damnit! This close… I was THIS close. Another few seconds, and the damage would have been irreversible. Damn her and her perfectionist complex! I swear, the money had better be good for what this nearly cost me."
"A deliberate attempt on her life." Miranda deactivated her omni tool. "The only remaining question is: Who was he working for?"
"It makes no sense." Jacob muttered as he replaced his assault rifle inside his weapons pack. "He worked with you on this. Why would he even.."
"Apparently, someone wanted me to stay dead." Shepard answered. It was clear that Miranda was thinking along the same lines, because she nodded in approval.
"Exactly. Someone wanted this to fail, and I'm just as curious as you are." She addressed Jacob with that last. "As for Wilson, I wanted to kill him after he jeopardized the project the first time. Doing it now seems only half as satisfying."
"Could have found out who he worked for." Jacob volunteered. "You didn't have to kill him."
"Believe me, I did." Miranda muttered. She then turned toward Shepard and the shuttle. "Come on, the remaining mechs will converge on this area soon. I'm not risking our means of escape for a dead scientist."
The shuttle ride from the first Cerberus station was quiet. Everyone seemed to be absorbed in their own thoughts. Jacob and Miranda would exchange looks from time to time, but they really didn't' speak much. Hawthorne and Goldstein spoke quietly in a corner of the shuttle, but it was mostly small talk. Shepard, for the most part, just looked out of the shuttle's virtual windows. They were activated once the shuttle cleared the hangar bay. The stars were an odd comfort to her, but at the same time, they were a grim reminder. They had been the last thing she'd seen before it happened. Referring to her death in that way seemed to make it a little easier to manage. Calling it what it was would take time.
As she looked out the virtual windows, she thought about what she knew. Some of it had been guesswork, but there were parts that she was certain of: She had been aboard a ship called Normandy, Joker had been her helmsman, Pressly had been chief navigator, and there had been others. Normandy had been attacked, and some had survived. How many was left up to her imagination.
She hadn't.
Closing her eyes against that thought, she saw faces come up from the darkness as though rising through water: a turian with blue facial tattoos, a quarian, two asari, a krogan, and a few other humans. She knew these faces, or she used to. Garrus, Tali, Liara, Selyna, Wrex, Ashley, Kaidan, Karin, Charles, Greg, and Joker. Those names filled her with a warm feeling that she couldn't understand; They were at the center of a web. From there, other people and places branched off. It was all beginning to form a strange string of consciousness that was overriding the limited knowledge she had.
As the shuttle began docking procedures, Shepard was drawn out of her thoughts. Virtual windows were deactivated, and the shuttle touched down on a new launchpad. She looked up to see Miranda and Jacob watching carefully.
"Credit for your thoughts, Shepard." Jacob offered as they all stood to leave the shuttle.
"I don't think you'd want to see what was going on in my head." She offered. He gave a grim smile in return.
"Bet not. Name's Jacob Taylor, by the way." He extended a hand, and Shepard shook it. "Didn't have much time for introductions back there. I'll be working with you and Miranda. Come on, the Illusive Man will be waiting ahead."
"Pleasure." She nodded in regard to the introduction. "What do you know about him?"
"About as much as anyone does, probably." Jacob shrugged. "He's the founder and leader of Cerberus, has way too many resources at his disposal, and he knows how to get things done."
"The right way?" Shepard didn't miss the expression that passed over Jacob's features.
"That's where the gray area starts." Jacob muttered. He and Shepard stepped down from the shuttle and followed Miranda and the others toward the upper landing. "Honestly, it depends on how you feel about it."
"Example?"
"Don't know how much you remember about it, but after the battle of the Citadel, I thought things would change." Jacob paused for a moment when they reached the landing. "I used to be with the Alliance too, by the way."
"What happened after the battle of the Citadel?" The name sounded familiar, and even the concept of what happened during it was starting to come back in the form of micro flashes.
"The Council was saved by the fifth fleet, and humanity was finally invited to join them. It was looking good for a while. Unfortunately, after things started to go right, the same old political bullshit started taking root. That's the difference between them and us." He motioned toward himself and the others ahead of them. "Human colonies started going dark not long after your ship went down. Cerberus doesn't establish a committee to debate on what procedures need to be followed. They don't take a vote on what could or should be done. They mobilize a team and get out there. That's what we're doing here."
"We'll see about that, I suppose."
Shepard proceeded into the next room, where Miranda was already working at a terminal. As she approached, Miranda looked up.
"Jacob give you the pro-Cerberus speech yet?" She asked casually. Something was off about ow she said it, though. When Shepard shrugged, Miranda scoffed. "Don't let others sway you, Shepard. I'm not going to try and advocate for Cerberus. In the end, it will be our actions that will determine whether you trust us, not our words."
"Knowing what I do about Cerberus, I don't think I could ever trust them."
"Given what you know, that's understandable." Miranda nodded. "Unfortunately, I cannot speak for other cells. I can only address matters dealing with the Lazarus cell."
"What is this cell's main focus?"
"For now, I'm looking at her." Miranda logged out of the terminal and looked Shepard in the eye. "The focus of the Lazarus cell was and is to ensure your return. For the most part, the hard part is over: you're up and around. As for the rest, the Illusive Man has a goal in mind. We won't know what that is until you discuss it with him. He's waiting just through there."
"No time like the present to get it over with."
"The sooner you do, the sooner we will know."
Shepard passed an armory on her way through the doorway that led to where the Illusive Man was supposedly waiting. The chestplate she saw made her do a double take. She had expected armor with the same black and gold tones as Miranda and Jacob's. What she didn't expect was a chestplate that she had seen once before. With.a matte black foundation, the chestplate was over toned with blue steel, giving it a dark blue glint. The elite rating that she had been defined by was embossed on the right-side collar of the chestplate.
N7.
She remembered that commendation and the training that went with it. Moving past the armory, she descended the stairs. The sooner she had this chat with the Illusive Man, the sooner she would be able to sort out the mad storm of information that was buzzing around in her head. When Shepard cleared the next doorway however, she found herself in a small room with the smallest of light sources. There was a circular pad on the floor in its center.
Was this a joke?
She stepped forward and into the center of the ring. Immediately, a holo interface appeared and showed what looked like a progress bar. Once it filled, she was looking into a large office with a stunning view of a system's star. A single chair sat in the center of her field of view, and it was occupied by a man.
"Commander Shepard."
"You are the Illusive Man, I assume." She took in the view with suspicious eyes. In her gut, she had assumed that they would not meet in person. While the method of communication for this meeting was impressive, there was a slight sense of confidence in her. She had been right. "Pity, I had actually entertained the thought of our meeting in person."
"A necessary precaution." He spoke with an air of certainty that befitted a man standing with his boot over an ant hill. "It would have been an unnecessary risk, given the times we're in."
"You'll have to explain that one." She didn't have time or patience for a head game. Shepard watched as the man removed his cigarette and tapped it against the bottom of an ash tray.
"What do you remember about your last major assignment, Shepard?" He asked then. "Any details, small or large will do."
"I was chasing down a spectre." Again, the words came out before she knew what she was saying. She could see him in her mind's eye: a turian that had been implanted with technology that was oddly familiar. "Saren."
"Go on."
"He was working with something…" A dark shadow against a purple-gray nebula solidified where the turian had been. "A sentient machine." These were empty words that had no real meaning to her. When Shepard opened her eyes again, she saw the Illusive Man nodding in approval.
"It seems that your memory is still intact, but it is taking time for you to reconnect with it. Perhaps their estimates were off, after all."
"Whose estimates?" Shepard didn't like the feeling she was getting. It was almost like dissociation.
"Both Miranda and Wilson had their opinions on when you would be fit to return to any sort of active status." He spoke in a slightly sharper tone. "I am more inclined to support Miranda's argument. I don't think you're ready."
"The problem with that is that it doesn't matter if I was ready or not." Shepard used that sharper tone of his to remain focused on the conversation.
"You're right about that. We can't undo anything now." The Illusive Man tapped a panel on the arm of his chair and rose from it. He then stepped forward. "We are at war. The Alliance doesn't want to admit it, but humanity is under attack." When he had stopped speaking, an image of a galaxy map appeared to his right. There were red markers scattered out within what was labeled the Terminus Systems. He motioned to it. "Human settlements that were established in the Terminus systems have gone dark. Entire colonies have gone missing, and no one within Council-controlled space wants to admit what we know is occurring."
"And what do we know?"
"This isn't some simple coincidence." The Illusive Man said simply. "I won't do you a disservice and spell it out, because it will all come back to you soon. In short, it has to do with what that sentient machine and its kind have done before. You witnessed the fate of the Protheans through their beacons. Now, the same thing is happening to humans: they're being harvested."
"And you can prove this?" The word Protheans, coupled with beacons, had stirred something in a distant corner of Shepard's brain. It made her feel uneasy; the hairs on the back of her neck prickled uncomfortably.
"That is what I am hoping that you can find." The Illusive Man pointed to one specific pin on the galaxy map. "The colony of Freedom's Progress has recently gone radio silent. I have a shuttle at your current location that can take you and your team there to investigate."
"Do I have a choice?"
"There is always a choice, Shepard." His tone was laced with a touch of frost. "If you get to the colony and don't find the answers we both need, we can part ways." He returned to his chair and sat down; the map disappeared again as he picked up another cigarette. "I spent billions of credits and countless resources to bring you back. My reasoning behind it is this: One woman, one very specific woman, defied the odds a little over two years ago and spared the galaxy from a terrible fate. She made people take notice, people that would have otherwise turned a blind eye. Unfortunately, her work isn't finished." He took a long drag from the cigarette before releasing the smoke slowly. "Shepard, that woman is you."
"You're making.a lot of assumptions."
"I have always been a gambler." The Illusive Man said as he straightened his posture again. "It is one of my faults, but I've not been known o lose. Go to Freedom's Progress, and see what you can find. That will determine our path forward."
"Miranda and Jacob, what should I expect from them?"
"Miranda is as straight-forward as they come. She knows her position and knows what is expected of you and herself; she will be a key resource. Jacob is a good soldier, one of the best. He has never fully trusted me, but at least he is honest about it. He will be a loyal ally."
Shepard nodded.
"Good luck, Shepard." The Illusive Man tapped something else on the arm of his chair, and the world around her went dark.
The conversation was over.
"We didn't get much of a chance to discuss the whole Wilson thing."
Her hand tightened on the edge of the standing desk she was near.
"There is nothing left to discuss." Miranda didn't look up from what she was reading.
"Why did he do it?" Jacob's question was more or less him thinking out loud. "After everything, why do it?"
"You'd have to ask him," Miranda frowned. What she was seeing confirmed her suspicions. "Or a Ouija board, in this case."
"You're not bothered by this?"
"No." She finally closed the terminal out again. "What bothers me is that, while he is dead, his actions still jeopardized the project."
"How?"
"She's not ready, Jacob."
"Not ready? How do you figure that?"
"The memories aren't there." Miranda looked back toward the doorway that her conversation topic had gone through. "She can't relate to them. That poses a huge problem."
"Maybe it will just take time." Jacob shrugged.
"Time we could have had if Wilson hadn't fucked this all up."
"I'll give her this," Goldstein remarked. "Her battle reflexes are there. I saw pieces of vids back when she was on the ground on the Citadel. She's solid in combat."
"That's true." Miranda relented. "This is all a whopping amount of unknowns, and you know how much I hate them."
"You're right."
"Shepard." Miranda turned to see the woman clearing the doorway she had just looked away from.
"The memories are there, but they're coming back at the worst times." Shepard stopped just at Miranda's left side.
"Hawthorne," Miranda turned to the man who was standing a few paces past Jacob. He looked up. "You're a good pilot. Prepare the shuttle. We'll be leaving here soon for these coordinates."
"Freedom's Progress." Shepard assumed.
"The colony that has just gone silent." Miranda confirmed. "Jacob, Goldstein, make sure the shuttle is properly stocked and the contents of this armory are available."
"On it." Goldstein moved forward and began seizing the contents that were loaded into the armory's available bins. Jacob went for the weapons and thermal clips. When they started down toward the shuttle, Miranda turned to face Shepard again.
"They don't need to know what is going on in your head." She admitted. Shepard spared her a thankful nod.
"I'm seeing people and places, but most of it doesn't feel right. I know they are supposed to mean something…"
"You're looking at someone's life as if it were a picture book." As she said it, Miranda felt a slight tug of pity that she hadn't expected. She'd focused on the core parts of the project for so long, the concept of having someone connect with memories that had been locked inside a frozen brain had been merely a concern. Looking it in the face as it was happening made her pause.
"At least, in the field, my muscle memory is there." Shepard looked down toward where the others were moving supplies into the shuttle. "Small favors, right?"
"The rest will come." Miranda finally said after a moment; she held back the rest as a private thought.
It has to.
A/N 2: Oh yes, I know. I'm giving Miri a little less of the Ice Queen treatment :) Couldn't resist. I also did a little changeup: At the begining of ME2, Shepard has most of the answers. Now, she doesn't. l always felt that was a little odd that most stuff came back to him/her very quickly. Anyway, hope that this is flowing well. (It does in my head, anyway). Freedom's Progress is next, and there might be a little surprise waiting there ;)
Stay tuned.
