Michael looked out the shuttle window. They even had the logo on the station itself. He shook his head before settling back.

"Before you meet with the Illusive Man, we need to ask a few questions to evaluate your condition." Miranda started pulling up her omnitool.

"Come on, Miranda. More tests? Shepard took down those mechs without any trouble. That has to be good enough." Jacob turned a little to face Miranda.

"It's been two years since the attack. The Illusive Man needs to know that Shepard's personality and memories are intact. Ask the questions."

A chill went down his spine. "Did you say two years?" He starred. "I've been gone that long?" He needed to get in touch with people. Kaidan and Hackett and... Michael forced the thoughts down. He was still behind enemy lines.

Jacob nodded. "Two years and twelve days. And you were on an operating table for most of it."

Miranda gave them an impatient look. "The sooner we start, the sooner we can be done. Start with personal history."

"Okay." Jacob pulled up his own omnitool. "Records show you grew up on Earth. Tough environment, no parents." He knew damn well what the records said. He'd written them. "You enlisted and led troops during some heavy fighting, most notably on Torfan. Do you remember taking on some batarian slavers?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Those bastards were dug in deep in a fortified bunker. I sent a lot of good soldiers to their deaths. That's how it had to be." They tell him he'd been dead for two years, then bring up Torfan. Did they want their jaws broken?

"You got the job done." Jacob nodded. "That's all that matters." He turned to the woman next to him. "Satisfied, Miranda?"

"Almost. Let's try something more recent." She looked down at her own omnitool. "Virmire, where you destroyed Saren's cloning facility. You had to leave one of your squad behind to die in the blast."

"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams was killed in action. It was your call. Why did you leave her behind?"

Michael met Jacob's eyes, and saw the man flinch just slightly. "We should move on." He left the threat unvoiced. If they really wanted to know how he felt about leaving Ashley to die, he was more than happy to demonstrate on their vital organs.

"There are other tests we really should run -" Miranda shook her head.

"Come on, Miranda." Jacob's self-preservation instinct appeared to be intact. "Enough with the quizzes. The memories are there, and I can vouch for Shepard's combat skills personally."

"I suppose you're right. We'll have to hope the Illusive Man accepts our little field test as evidence enough."

#

A full body holo unit for communication. Someone was trying to be impressive. The 'Illusive Man' was sitting in a chair, smoking what looked to be an actual cigarette. The backdrop was a star, smoldering in shades of blue and red. Michael made himself keep a straight face. "Commander Shepard."

"Illusive Man. I thought we'd be meeting face-to-face." Michael folded his arms.

"A necessary precaution. Not unusual for people who know what you and I know."

"From what I hear, I cost you a fortune." Normally that was a matter of property damage and assorted fines. "Why'd you do it?"

"For the defense and preservation of humanity." TIM tapped ashes off the end of his cigarette. "I didn't spend two years and billions of credits bringing you back to serve as a common soldier. But humanity is up against the greatest threat of our brief existence."

Well, he was right about that much at least. And what was with his eyes? "The Reapers."

"Good to see your memory's still intact. How are you feeling?"

The next stranger who asked him that question was going to get shot. "I noticed a few upgrades." Some fairly considerable upgrades. He'd need to get into a combat simulator or something soon, to get a better feel for his new baseline. "I hope you didn't replace anything really important."

"We tried to keep you as intact as possible. We need Shepard..." TIM nodded to him. "Just as you were when you defeated Sovereign."

Enough chit chat. Time for business. "What are the Reapers doing that made you decide to bring me back?"

TIM stood. "We're at war. No one wants to admit it, but humanity is under attack." His image walked forward. "While you've been sleeping, entire colonies have been disappearing. Human colonies. We believe it's someone working for the Reapers. Just as Saren and the geth aided Sovereign." He gestured. "You've seen it yourself. You bested all of them. That's just one reason we chose you."

Ooooooooh. Now he was a chosen one. "Fighting a war doesn't seem like Cerberus. Why are you involved?"

"We are committed to the advancement and preservation of humanity. If the Reapers are targeting us, trying to wipe us out, Cerberus will stop them. If we wait for politicians or the Alliance to act..." He waved a hand. "No more human colonies will be left."

The rest could wait until he'd contacted his team, Anderson, and Hackett. "If you're after the Reapers, just point me in the right direction."

"Miranda was worried you'd be resistant." TIM nodded. "She's not usually wrong. I have a shuttle ready to take you to Freedom's Progress, the latest colony to be abducted." He went back to his chair. "Miranda and Jacob will brief you."

Right. Because he was supposed to trust them. "I'll get what you're looking for and be back before you know it." The first part, anyway. The second remained to be seen. He needed a news source, one not controlled by Cerberus. And a comm unit, one also not controlled by Cerberus.

"Good to hear it." TIM gestured. "Find any clues you can. Who's abducting the colonies? Do they have any connection to the Reapers? I brought you back. It's up to you to do the rest."

#

"The Illusive Man is very impressed with you." Miranda didn't look up from what she was doing. "I'm eager to see if you can live up to his expectations on this mission."

He gave the bad cop an appraising look. "I can't have anyone disobeying my commands when we get there."

"I know who I report to. As long as you don't do anything to betray Cerberus, I'll follow your orders."

Oh, this was going to be fun. He was probably going to have to shoot her at some point. Now he just needed to decide if it was going to be in the kneecaps or head. "We'll find out what happened to those colonists."

"Well, at least you're confident. Let's hope it's not misplaced."

Michael contemplated a moment. He had to work with this woman a while longer. He should probably make nice, and be diplomatic. "Are you naturally this bitchy, or is it just me?" Or maybe he'd just play to his strengths instead.

Her eyes narrowed just slightly. "I have the utmost respect for your abilities, Shepard. It's your motivations that concern me. I believe in what Cerberus stands for. Only time will tell if you prove to be an asset or a liability to our cause."

Generally, he did his best to be both. "I'd like to know more about the Lazarus Project from the person in charge."

"I wasn't in charge. The Illusive Man was. If I was running the show, we'd have done a few things differently."

"What would you have changed?"

"To start, I would have implanted you with some type of control chip, but the Illusive Man wouldn't allow it. He was afraid it might affect your personality - alter your character somehow. He wouldn't let us do anything that might limit your potential in any way."

Head. When he had to shoot her, it was going to be in the head. Twice. Then the kneecaps. "Remind me to send him a fruit basket."

"The Illusive Man is taking an incredible risk with you. I just hope his gamble pays off."

Time to get to the point. He'd seen Jacob in action, but not her. "Tell me a little about yourself."

"Worried about my qualifications?" She arched an eyebrow. "I can crush a mech with my biotics or shoot its head off at 100 yards. Take your pick."

Exploding rounds. "It's obvious you're not interested in talking."

"We've got an assignment. We can talk about it, or we can do it."

#

"I'm glad the Illusive Man convinced you to join us, Commander." Jacob smiled when Michael approached.

"Cerberus gave me my body back." Michael nodded. "That's worth giving them a chance. One chance." He wasn't sure what, exactly, they could do to make him trust them, but a lot of crazy shit had happened.

"But you're still not convinced." Jacob raised an eyebrow. He hesitated a moment. "Do you trust me, Commander?"

Michael gave the good cop an appraising look. "I haven't made my mind up about you yet."

"At least you're giving me a chance. Most Alliance soldiers hate Cerberus on principle."

"You said you served in the Alliance?" From marine to terrorist. A lost depended on the reasons why.

"Five years in total. Stationed all over the galaxy. Even spent a couple of years as a Corsair."

"You were a Corsair?" Michael folded his arms.

"It was an Alliance initiative. They hired independent starship captains and used them for missions that fell outside official Alliance jurisdiction. Technically, we weren't part of the Alliance. If we ever got caught, they could disavow any knowledge of us." Jacob shrugged. "We were supposed to be free from restrictions and rules, but there was still enough red tape to sink a cruiser. I finally just gave up."

"What did you do in the Corsairs?" Michael leaned on the railing.

"First mission was a simple smuggling operation. We used a stolen batarian frigate to move some weapons, get a couple different bands of pirates fighting each other."

"When was this?" Michael raised an eyebrow.

"It was..." Jacob's eyes suddenly widened, and then he chuckled. "Yeah. That batarian frigate."

"Always wondered what the Alliance did with that thing." Interesting coincidence. If it was a coincidence. Probably not. He suspected the same was true of the fact Jacob sounded a lot like Garrus. "Why did you join Cerberus?"

"I guess I just got tired of never making a difference. So much of what we did in the Alliance seemed pointless. I thought things would change after the attack on the Citadel. Humanity was finally invited to join the Council. But nothing changed. Politics. Bureaucracy. Same bullshit, different leaders." Jacob gestured. "Cerberus is different. When colonies go missing, we don't commission a team to write a report to figure out what the hell to do about it. We just go and find out."

#

"We should be there shortly, Shepard. The Illusive Man put us under your command. Do you have any orders?" Miranda shifted slightly in her seat.

"Two." Michael nodded to her. "Next time you head into the field with me, wear armor. And our first priority here is to look for survivors."

"That's unlikely, Commander." Miranda left it unsaid which order she was responding to. "No one was left at the other colonies. They were completely deserted."

"Be nice to find somebody." Jacob sighed. "Anything's better than another ghost town."

#

Ghost town was the right of it. Jacob shook his head as they walked through another building. "Looks like everyone just got up and left in the middle of dinner."

"Strange." Miranda looked around. "No bodies. No structural damage. No signs of battle."

Michael was about to respond when he saw the first mech. He made a frustrated sound when the mechs started moving towards them, aiming their weapons. "Didn't we do this already?"

#

They opened a door to find a group of quarians. Who immediately started pointing guns at them. "Stop right there," the one in the lead said.

Michael was about to make a few threatening remarks when he heard a familiar voice. "Prazza." Tali rushed forward. "You said you'd let me handle this. Wait..." She went still when she caught sight of him. "Shepard?"

The buffoon with the gun shook his head. "I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives."

"Put those weapons down." Tali held up a hand. He gestured for Jacob and Miranda to do the same thing, lowering his own weapon. Tali turned back towards him. "Shepard? Is that..." She gave a small shake of her head. "You're alive?"

"Remember when I gave you that geth data, Tali?" No one knew about that but the two of them. "Did it help you complete your Pilgrimage?"

Tali visibly relaxed. "Yes, it did. Prazza, weapons down. This is definitely Commander Shepard."

Prazza finally obeyed. "Why is your old commander working for Cerberus?"

"I don't know." Tali shook her head. "Maybe we should ask."

"Cerberus rebuilt me, but I'm not taking their orders." He didn't miss Miranda giving him a look. "We can discuss the specifics once I know why you're here."

She nodded. "One of our people was here on Pilgrimage. His name was Veetor. We came to find him."

"Everyone else is dead. What makes you think Veetor survived?"

"We saw him when we landed." Prazza jerked his head towards the rear of the building.

"You saw him?" Jacob took a half step forward. "Then why isn't he with you already?"

"Veetor was injured, and he was always, ah, nervous -" Tali started to say.

Prazza interrupted. "She means that he was unstable. Combine that with damage to his suit's CO2 scrubbers and an infection from open-air exposure, and he's likely delirious."

"When he saw us landing, he hid in a warehouse on the far side of town. We suspect he also programmed the mechs to attack anything that moved."

Michael nodded. He jerked a thumb at his companions. "This is Good Cop. That's Bad Cop. We're here to investigate the disappearance." He shrugged. "Veetor's the only one who can tell us what happened here. We should work together to find him."

Tali swallowed a small laugh. "Good idea. You'll need two teams to get past the drones, anyway."

"Now we're working with Cerberus?" Prazza took a step forward.

"No, Prazza, you're working for me. If you can't follow orders, go wait on the ship." Tali turned back towards Michael and began giving instructions. He couldn't help but feel a small twinge of pride seeing her take command. "Head for the warehouse through the center of the colony. We'll circle around the far side and draw off some of the drones to clear you a path."

"Yes ma'am." He smiled. "Make sure to keep in radio contact."

"Will do. Good luck, Shepard. Whatever happens..." She hesitated a moment. "It's good to have you back."

#

Jacob and Miranda were at least competent in a fight. They were most of the way to their destination when Tali's voice came over the radio again. "Shepard. Prazza and his squad rushed on ahead. I told them to wait, but they wouldn't listen. They want to find Veetor and take him away before you get here. Veetor reprogrammed a heavy mech. It's tearing Prazza's squad apart."

He kept moving, following her instructions. They reached a blast door. Tali's voice came over again. "Get your squad into cover and I'll open the loading bay doors."

Michael gestured. "You heard the lady." He took his own position.

#

They arrived just in time to see Prazza die. Jacob made a frustrated noise. "That mech's got heavy armor playing. Those quarians never stood a chance."

"Miranda, get overload it's shields. Jacob, draw its attention." Michael yanked the sniper rifle out of his harness. He hadn't had a chance to spec it out yet, but hopefully it would serve.

"This is going to be one tough son-of-a-bitch to take down." Miranda took her own position. She called up her omnitool to try overloading the shields.

As soon as the shields sparked, Michael took aim at the joint just above its heavy weapon. The gun exploded, dealing additional damage to the mech. Jacob hurled one of the crates at it as it started to turn towards Michael. As soon as it turned back towards Jacob, Michael came out of cover and lined up another shot. This one caught the mech in its primary control unit. It twitched and shuddered before exploding.

He headed in to check on Tali. She nodded up at him from where she was tending to one of the survivors. "This is your chance to go find Veetor while I tend to the wounded, Shepard."

"You're good?" He raised an eyebrow and waited for her to nod before continuing on.

#

"Monsters coming back. Mechs will protect. Safe from swarms. Have to hide. No monsters. No swarms. No-no-no-no no." The quarian in front of the screens was chanting to himself.

He tried a couple times to get the quarian's attention. Veetor kept working on the system in front of him. Michael sighed, and put a shot in one of the screens. Veetor went still before standing and turning to face them. "You're..." He tilted his head. "Not one of them. You're human. They..." He shifted his weight from foot to foot. "They didn't find you?"

"Who didn't find us? Miranda asked.

"The..." Veetor gestured. "The monsters. The swarms. They took everyone."

Michael took a step forward. "We're not survivors, Veetor. We just got here."

"You don't know. You didn't see. But I see everything." Veetor turned back to the system and called up a video. They watched as bugs swarmed around, and strange looking beings began loading unconscious or otherwise paralyzed humans into some kind of organic looking pod.

"Looks like security footage. He must've pieced it together manually." Miranda leaned forward.

"What the hell is that?" Jacob shook his head.

"My god." Miranda stepped back. "I think it's a Collector."

Well, this just got better and better. "I thought the Collectors kept to themselves." He'd known of their existence only vaguely.

"They usually work through intermediaries, like slavers or hired mercenaries. If they're involved with the Reapers somehow, it could explain what happened to the colonies." Miranda folded her arms.

Jacob nodded. "The Collectors have advanced technology. They could have a weapon that disables an entire settlement at once."

"The seeker swarms." Veetor shivered. "No one can hide. The seekers find you. Freeze you. Then the monsters take you away."

He questioned Veetor a little more, then sighed. They had more information, but still no idea what was going on. He nodded to Veetor. "We appreciate what you told us. You were very helpful."

Veetor told them about the additional readings he'd taken. Michael saw Miranda's eyes practically light up. "We need to get this data to the Illusive Man. Grab the quarian and call the shuttle to come pick us up."

The door behind them opened. Jacob immediately pulled his pistol as he turned towards it. Tali entered, shaking her head. "What? Veetor is injured. He needs treatment, not an interrogation."

"We won't hurt him." Jacob kept his pistol in his hand. "We just need to see if he knows anything else. He'll be returned unharmed."

Michael casually drew his own side arm. And pressed it against the back of Jacob's head. "Jacob, no offense..." Michael narrowed his eyes. "But if you point your weapon at Tali again I'm going to shoot you."

Jacob immediately holstered his sidearm. On the other side of him, Miranda shook her head at Tali. "Your people tried to betray us once already. If we give him to you, we'll never get the intel we need."

He was pretty sure Tali was rolling her eyes. "Prazza was an idiot, and he and his men paid for it. You're welcome to take Veetor's omni-tool data, but please. Just let me take him."

Michael holstered his own pistol. "You don't have to take Veetor and go. We could work together. Just like old times."

"I want to, but I can't." Tali sighed. "I've got a mission of my own. It's too important for me to abandon, even for you. When it's over, and I'm still alive, we'll see what happens."

"He's traumatized, and he needs medical care. Tali will give us the omni-tool data and take him to the flotilla." Michael waited to see if Miranda would obey the instruction.

Though her face was clearly reluctant, she nodded. "Understood, Commander."

"Thank you, Shepard. I'm glad you're still the one giving the orders. Good luck out there. If I find anything that can help you, I'll let you know."

"Take care of yourself, Tali." He nodded to her. "Don't steal anything I wouldn't steal."

"That's what..." Tali tilted her head. "A space station?" She shook her head. "No, we did technically hijack the Citadel."

"We gave it back." He turned towards Jacob. "Let the shuttle know we are ready for pickup."

#

"Shepard. Good work on Freedom's Progress." Tim was still smoking. Michael wondered if it was an affection, or if they were real cigarettes. "The quarians forwarded their findings from Veetor's debriefing. No new data, but it's a surprising olive branch, given our history. You and I have different methods, but I can't argue with your results."

Which was why they needed him. Michael folded his arms. "The data from his omni-tool should be quite useful."

"We're still analyzing it. But more importantly, you confirmed the Collectors are behind the abductions."

Confirmed? You'd think someone who had studied his history would know better than to start dicking him around. He got Tim to fill him in on the Collectors, and made a few mental notes about what to confirm independently. Tim clearly wasn't going to tell him anymore than what Tim felt was necessary. "The Collectors are definitely a human enemy, but how do we know there's a connection to the Reapers?"

"Their focus shifted to humanity only after you and the human fleet destroyed Sovereign. The abductions are related, even if the Alliance and the Council refuse to believe it. I won't wait until the Reapers are on the march. We need to take the fight to them."

"I hate waiting, but I'll need a team." Not just good cop and bad cop, though he was pretty sure he was going to be stuck with both of them. "A good one."

"I've already compiled a list of soldiers, scientists, and mercenaries. You'll get dossiers on the best of them." Tim nodded. "Finding them and convincing them to work with you could be challenging, but you're a natural leader. I'll continue to track the Collectors. When they make their next appearance, I'll notify you and your team. Be ready."

"Keep your list. I want people I trust." Michael narrowed his eyes. The last thing he needed was Tim's handpicked goon squad. "The ones who helped me stop Saren and the geth."

"That was two years ago, Commander. Most of them have moved on..." Tim shrugged. "Or their allegiances have changed."

"Where's Kaidan Alenko?"

"He's still with the Alliance. Promoted, I believe. His file is surprisingly well-classified."

Hackett or Anderson would know. He needed to contact them for other reasons, but Hackett and Anderson would have kept track of someone like Kaidan. "Where's Garrus Vakarian?"

"The turian disappeared a few months after you were declared dead. Even we haven't been able to locate him."

Michael was torn between pride and frustration. But then, once word got around, Garrus could likely find him. Of course, even if Tim did know, it was clear asking was a waste of time. Tim wanted things done his way. He could play the game for now. "Okay, I get it. They're not available."

"You're a leader, Shepard. You'll get who you need."

"You worry about the Collectors. I'll make sure my team's ready." And that said team met his standards.

"Good. Two things before you go." Tim took a drag from his cigarette. "First, head to Omega and find Mordin Solus. He's a brilliant salarian scientist. Our intelligence suggests he may know how to counteract the Collector's paralyzing seeker swarms."

Salarians. Of course. "Sounds good. And what else?"

"I've found a pilot I think you might like. I hear he's one of the best." Tim leaned back in his chair. "Someone you can trust." He hit the toggle to end the communication.

Michael had just started to turn around when he heard a familiar voice. "Hey, Commander. Just like old times, huh?"

#

Kaidan looked down at the datapad before looking back up at Captain Varel. "Shepard's alive?"

"That's what the rumor said." The captain sighed. "Alive and working with Cerberus."

"No." Kaidan shook his head and tossed the datapad away. As much as he wanted to hope that somehow... If Michael was alive, he'd have contacted him by now. And there was no way Michael would work with a group like Cerberus. For crying out loud, Michael and Garrus had gotten along like long lost brothers. Michael was a lot of things, but a human supremacist was definitely not one of them. He'd proved that many times.

It wasn't until later that he picked up the datapad again, and stared at the intelligence report. His vision blurred just slightly, and he blinked until it cleared again. Then he went to his comm unit.

He intended to leave a message, and blinked when Brekin actually answered. "Kaidan." Brekin's smile faded almost immediately. "What's wrong?"

"There's a rumor going around and..." Kaidan sighed. "Okay, this is going to sound really stupid but..." He took a deep breath. "Have you heard from Shepard?"

"Kaidan, if I'd heard from Shepard you'd have been the first call I made." Brekin leaned forward. "And you wouldn't be asking a question like that if you didn't know something, so fill me in. And don't you dare pull the classified card on me."

"Latest intelligence report says Michael Shepard is alive and working with Cerberus. That he was seen at the colony of Freedom's Progress not long after it went dead."

"Cerberus?" Brekin shook his head. "Bullshit. Shepard was a terror, not a terrorist."

Despite himself, Kaidan laughed. "Yeah, I hear that." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Guess a part of me..."

"Wanted to believe it. Yeah." Brekin sighed. "Hey, Sandra wants to know when your next shore leave is. Apparently, you're a better taste-tester than I am and she's got some new additions she wants to make to the cafe's dessert menu."

"I'll put in the request immediately." Kaidan smiled.