Wheezing to itself, the door tried to clunk open as slowly as it could, until, caught in the merciless green grip of the sonic screwdriver, it was forced open with a resentful bang. Quickly scurrying through Shepard gave the Doctor the few seconds grace needed to turn and reapply his screwdriver, this time with the aim to lock it rather than open it. And then she began shouting.
"What the hell did you think you were doing? If you'd let me take the shot, we wouldn't have to worry about him catching up!"
"Look, I'm not going to just let you shoot people." The Doctor said, calmly stowing away his sonic screwdriver. "It has a certain... finality to it."
"You're missing the point entirely: Mordin's dangerous, even more so when we don't know where he is or what's going through his head, and I can tell you for certain that whatever those... things did to him isn't going to stop him shooting me or you-"
"Yes, you're right." The Doctor said, cutting her off. Shepard blinked, surprised.
"I am?" She said, folding her arms and frowning at him.
"Yes, of course you- no, not about the shooting." He waved a hand at her, before turning to look out at the Nebula, one hand on his hip. "Something right in front of... oh, of course." He turned back. "They're not trying to kill you: they're trying to kill me."
"What? But the bullets, those things-"
"All aimed at me, but that's not what's interesting. Why do they want you. Why you: they have the ship, the crew: even your team, so why'd they want you?"
"They have my ship?" Again, the dismissive wave.
"Of course: why do you think it's docked. But why you. What's so important about you."
Shrugging, Shepard said "And what about them trying to kill you? Not in the least bit curious about that."
"No, they're always trying to kill me. Always were trying to kill me. Managed to kill me: yeah, you're right, why'd they want to kill me?" The Doctor began pacing up and down the corridor.
"They should still think I'm dead! This is wrong, wrong, wrong!" he shouted at Shepard, who had been staring bemusedly at him ever since 'managed to kill me'.
"Maybe they found out you're not?" she suggested. "After all, I can't imagine they'd mistake you for someone else." The Doctor shook his head, before stopping at the end of one pace, foot hanging in the air, before rushing towards her with a impish grin on his face.
"We need to talk to a Silent." he said, before rushing forwards again, away from Shepard and the door they'd just come through. Pointing behind her, Shepard muttered
"Nearest one's that way."
"Doesn't matter which way we go: they'll find us, just like-oh." The Doctor said, as the door he'd been strolling towards opened, revealing the inner section of the Normandy's airlock.
"Your ship. Right. Forgot about that."
It was, Shepard thought, refreshing to be going through a door that didn't clunk, hiss and finally, begrudgingly, open. Or to be standing beneath lights that decided to stay on instead of bathing her in darkness whenever she walked beneath them. Or to be finally out of the ever present redness that was the Nebula's light. Closing her eyes, she allowed the Normandy's familiar presence to sink back into her skin. She was home.
"So." The Doctor said, walking in after her. "I wonder where they've taken everyone." Shepard's eyes snapped open.
The Normandy was empty, completely and utterly empty. Not that it had ever really been full before, but now it felt like she'd suddenly re-entered the past. As if the Collectors had struck for a second time. But even then, there'd been the faint, omnipresent hum of the engines, or the sound of Joker's chair squeaking after one too many jokes at Gabby's expense had come back to bite him in the ass.
Instead the ship was silent and deserted.
"It's quiet." Shepard said, moving completely into her ship, before smiling. "Perfect."
"Err, what?" The Doctor said, screwdriver out and scanning their surroundings.
"I thought I might have to kill everyone in order to get a chance to talk to the Illusive man, but by the looks of things the road's clear. Perfect." Shepard turned in time to see the angry look building in the Doctor's eyes. "Joke: it was a joke! I'd have just maimed them a bit. They'd have forgiven me eventually."
"Shepard." A voice sounded out, interrupting the Doctor's pre-formed rant. "You came."
Lights began to flash along the ship, before settling down around EDI's projector. It did not, however, light up and, as if waiting for the right cue, the rest of the lights around the ship slowly began to dim.
"What's happening? Whose talking?" The Doctor shouted out.
"Shepard, there is not much time. You must talk to the Illusive man."
"He wants to see me?" Shepard asked, ignoring the Doctor.
"Yes, there is much for you to talk about." EDI's voice began to fade, the lights around her projector fading with it.
"EDI, what's going on?" Shepard said, cautiously walking towards it, the Doctor scanning everything in sight as he went along with her.
"The crew have... sabotaged the power supply. I am conserving energy for your communication. It is imperative that you talk to him." The light's surged as the Doctor's screwdriver came to rest near it, and for a few tantalising seconds a holographic ghost of EDI's face appeared above the projector, flashing between red and blue in patterns of three. "He knows." she said, and vanished.
"Well. That was ominous." Shepard said, as the Doctor grunted and continued to wave his screwdriver over the projector.
"I might be able to fix it. Undo whatever the crew did and restore power to the ship: that was an AI, wasn't it?" The Doctor said, breaking off and turning to Shepard, who nodded.
"Yes. She is." Shepard replied, before heading off towards the door to her left, the Doctor following her with his eyes.
"She's very advanced. A bit too advanced." The Doctor replied, speaking carefully as Shepard paused and the door in front of her slid open.
"Yes... look, if you can fix her: do it. Though how you'll be able to manage if you have no idea what mass-effect tech is..." Shepard left the sentence hanging, and walked through the door. As soon as it had closed, the Doctor turned back to the projector.
"All right, she's gone. Game's up."
The lights switched back on, rapidly re-bathing the room in light as EDI's face appeared once more at the projector.
"I judged it to be a safer course of action than the Illusive man's plan. Mine had a higher chance of separating the two of you peacefully."
"Not the best thing to say if you want me to trust you." There was a pause before EDI answered.
"You think I want your trust?"
"Course you do: I mean look at the lengths you went to do it. Luring us in here and then giving Shepard orders, which she, like the little soldier she is, immediately goes on to do. Meanwhile, to keep me here, you threw in a damaged power supply, knowing that the first thing I'd do is volunteer to help. That means you not only know how Shepard reacts, you know how I react. But even that isn't the brilliant bit."
"The SOS-"
"The SOS!" The Doctor interrupted, placing one hand on the wall and leaning towards the projector with a big grin on his face. "Flashing out an SOS the moment I turn towards you: now that, that means you want me to trust you. Could never say no to a ship asking for help."
"I want a promise." EDI said as the Doctor grinned at her, the lines flickering along her face as she talked.
"What?"
"I want my crew to be protected. I don't want them to... die painfully." The Doctor shrugged.
"You should be talking to Shepard then, not me. I'm already trying to protect them from-"
"No." EDI interrupted sharply, and the Doctor pulled back frowning at her. "Not the one's she is trying to kill: my crew."
"What do you mean?" The Doctor said, slowly folding his arms as he rested on his back leg.
"Not all of Shepard's squad work for the Illusive man: they cannot be trusted. They work for Her."
The Doctor pursed his lips together as if consider what she'd said, before moving slowly back in.
"Tell me which ones are working for this 'Her' then."
"Illusive man! Get off your fat ass and face me, you've got one hell of an explanation to give." Shepard barked as she stepped into the communication room, holographic images of the Illusive man's office already building up around her as she marched in. Unfortunately for Shepard, the Illusive man was already standing, his back slightly curved as he looked towards the red star out his window. Turning at the sound of her voice, he moved forwards into the light, saying
"Shepard, I'm glad you've come. We've a lot to talk about."
Shepard, in response, stared, her mouth almost threatening to take a vacation catching flies. The man she was looking at was not the Illusive man, or at least not the same Illusive man as she'd seen last time. In the intervening gap, the Illusive man seemed to have aged about fifty years, his skin piled up with wrinkles that crackled across his face and hair that fell out in droves as he walked towards her, body shaking as if out on the frozen tundra. The smile, however, was very much his, and the eyes: there was no mistaking that metallic gleam. And yet, what she was looking at was impossible.
"It's me, don't worry about it." The Illusive man said, reading her face with a laugh and settling himself carefully down into his chair, bones almost creaking with effort. "In fact, Shepard, this may very well be the first and last time you get to meet the 'real' me."
"What the hell happened to you?" Shepard asked, regaining control over her mouth.
"Rebellion always comes at some small price. This is mine." The Illusive man said, still smiling. "I prefer to think of them as victory scars, though I very much doubt I'll get to show them off to anyone but you."
"Rebellion? What are you talking about?" Shepard said, scowling up at him as she tried to see through whatever web he was spinning around her. This was not going as planned.
"Rebellion against the one who sent you here. Against the one's whose been pulling the strings since the beginning, and probably long before that."
"Your the one who sent me here, mister master puppeteer." Shepard replied, completely unfazed and in no way fooled.
"Yes, but who told me to do that?" The Illusive man said, arms creaking as he leant forwards. "Alright, lets try something else. How come you're in no way surprised by what's going on?"
"I am surprised." Shepard replied, shifting uncomfortably as she realised she was lying.
"No your not. Your taking it completely in your stride. Demonic creatures show up, all your friends hate you and want to hurt you, a strange man appears out of nowhere using technology that shouldn't exist and strolling through the centre of it all is Commander Shepard, laughing and joking without a care in the world."
The Illusive man fell quiet for a few heart beats, Shepard's breaths becoming the only sound to pass between the two of them.
"Because you already know, don't you? In a way, you expected this." The Illusive man continued, leaning back in his chair and throwing her a look mixed with equal parts smugness and sadness. "None of the explanations shock you because they've all already happened. None of the creatures frighten you because you've been facing them so long you've forgotten to be afraid, and ah, isn't that just it. You forgot. Fascinating creatures, those aliens. One look and everything... just fades away, replaced with whatever He wants you to think. The reason your not surprised, Shepard, is because you've already been through this before."
"How long." Shepard said, looking up at him with eyes that showed anger burning through the lost expression they'd held moments before.
"All your life." The Illusive man said calmly, adjusting himself in his seat. "I've seen you toddle into this station before you could speak: I've seen you charge in here believing you were chasing Saren or following after a high-school crush. On Alliance scouting missions or one of the first Cerberus patrols. If I tell you that nearly every time you've come this stations been getting a bit more... ragged then that should cover it."
"Are you... are you talking about Jamie? I followed him to an asteroid past Mars, I remember tha..." Shepard trailled off, her conviction fading into doubt.
The Illusive man inclined his head.
"Yes." he said. "You remember. Just as, I'm sure, you remember bouncing around all those remarkably similar planets on the Mako or raiding the same ship again and again and again."
"The Alliance said..."
"Yes, I'm sure the Alliance said that it was to be expected: that the civilian vessel was a common make. But common across multiple species? That was one of the many reasons it was decided to move you out of Alliance control and into the more tightly run Cerberus."
"Decided? The Collectors tried to blow me up: hell, they did blow me up. I died. You rebuilt me."
"Did you?" The Illusive man asked innocently. "How do you know? Is it something you 'remember' being happening? Besides, what makes you think the Collectors, and for that matter, the Reapers are real?"
"What? Of course they're real, I remember...No, no, this is insane: of course they're real, what the hell are you talking about?"
"More insane than creatures that can make you forget just by looking at them?" The Illusive man offered. "The Reapers aren't real, Shepard: they're pawns, puppets put up to make you dance to every single one of His tunes."
"He? HE! Who is this bloody 'He' you keep going on about, huh?" Shepard bellowed, a holographic digit pointed accusingly at a bemused Illusive man. "Who is it? The Shadow broker? No, wait, I know: it's the Turian Councillor, isn't it? He's the one who put you up to this."
"He, or more properly, it is called the Twenty-Second God."
"I don't understand: why don't you just tell her this?" The Doctor argued with EDI, as he walked along the empty corridors in the centre of the ship, the blue face of the AI popping up in a projector every so often.
"Because she is already being overloaded with information she will be unable to process."
"And you don't want to over-strain her. Right." The Doctor said, rummaging around in the kitchen before pulling out a bunch of fruit and beginning to sort through them.
"No. Never the less, it is vital." Nodding, the Doctor moved out from behind the counter, spinning an apple up into the air before catching it again.
"Yeah, yeah I'll see she gets the-" The Doctor paused at the sight in front of him. Large and shaped rather like a rhinoceros, this was probably the Krogan Shepard and EDI had been talking about. Taking a quick bite out of his apple, he took a step back as it turned towards him. Behind it, flashes of light started flickering along the corridor's walls as if someone was playing with sparking wires.
"EDI, I thought you said this ship was empty."
"It is, Doctor, I- oh." EDI said, as, filling in from the corridor holding the lift and the Doctor's only means of escape appeared Tali, Garrus, Samara and Grunt, their weapons all raised and pointing at him. Swallowing his chunk of apple, the Doctor took another pace back as they finished entering the room.
"I guess you found the Transmat then. Probably should have let Shepard blow that up."
"Where is she?" Garrus said, a bitter edge to his voice. "If you've so much as bruised her I'll tear you apart myself."
"Listen, all of you: Shepard is acting under her own free will, there is no need to-" Grunt cut EDI off by punching the projector off the wall, removing the speakers and thus EDI's voice with it.
"I won't listen to a Traitor of the clan." he said, metal tumbling off his hand as EDI, voice amplified from her unit in the Medical Bay, continued
"-to attack the Doctor. He is a friend."
"He's no friend of mine, or of Shepards." Tali growled angrily. To her side Samara began to glow blue.
"Find peace in the embrace of-" She began, pulling back an arm.
"Wait or I fire." The Doctor said, smoothly sliding an object out from his sleeve and pointing it her. The group hesitated. It was enough.
"What's that." Grunt hissed, confused, at Garrus.
"It's what I used to convince Shepard that I'm on her side, the ultimate weapon of unthinkable power: a friendship ray." The Doctor said, waving the yellow object at them. "One shot of this, and you'll be fighting your own friends."
"I say we kill him anyway." Grunt said, moving forwards.
"Ah ah ah, not so fast. Kill me, and you'll never know how to undo its power. Shepard will believe what I told her forever. Kill me, and you lose her. Move any closer, and you lose someone else."
The Doctor smiled at the hesitent group, hand swinging from person to person before finally settling on Samara.
"You: blue woman. Why're you all glowy." he asked, leaning back against the counter and taking another bite out of his apple.
"Okay, that's the name of a show-off." Shepard said, frowning up at the Illusive man who shrugged back at her.
"We're in a galaxy with a 'Consort' and a Shadow-broker'. Everyone's pretentious."
"And what evidence do you have for this... this God? Why's he behind it?"
"I never said He was a God, Shepard, just that he calls Himself one. As to what He is... I've no idea."
"Never met him, have you?"
"Au contraire, I just don't remember. As, I'm sure, you don't. Or at the very least, you recognise the name."
"I-" Shepard began, before gritting her teeth. The Illusive man gave her a knowing look.
"But that doesn't really matter, Shepard, because right now you've got a chance. He can't see us. He can't affect us. His power on this station's been nullified. Somehow."
"And how'd you know that. How can you possibly know what's happening here." Slowly the Illusive man made his way over to the window and stared out.
"Because that's no star, Shepard. It's a nebula."
Shepard frowned at him in confusion, before she cottoned on.
"Oh no. No way in hell am I believing that star is the bloody nebula. The nebula's straight, thin: a line with stars on either side of it and-"
"Time is funny on the station." The Illusive man interrupted her, inclining his head slightly as he continued to stare out. "Do you know how long you've been gone for, Shepard? Two weeks. Only two weeks, and yet I'm sure it feels much shorter to you." He turned round to face her again. "Barely a few hours, I'd guess. Well, one of the things about it is that the station's bigger than you think it is. You've still only seen the outside, and I'm deeper in. Nearer the core of it, the problem that brought the Doctor here in the first place and stranded him. And that did something."
He hobbled towards her, his left leg seemingly unable to bend properly before flopping back in the chair with a sigh. "Its stopped Him. I don't know how and I don't know why but its stopped Him, and I'm living proof of that, Shepard. His influence has died and now I am dying. After two hundred years of... I won't call it living- existing in this prison, I am dying. And do you know what?" he leant forwards, smiling a gap-toothed smile "I welcome it. I'm done, but listen because I don't know how much longer I have left."
He paused, breath ratteling in then out, before saying "The Nebula is important, pay close attention to it. You can trust the Doctor, but no-one else. The important thing you can't remember about the Silence is this: they are naked, and they should not be. The Twenty-Second God is real, and He hates you even though He uses you. You've already wired this station fit to blow, so for God's sake don't go planting anymore bombs. Oh yes: and your coffee addiction."
"Coffee? The coffee's important?" Shepard said, head still spinning from his information deluge.
"Yes. You drink coffee because of what you remember when you go to sleep at night, because of the one thing He did to you which cannot be forgiven."
"What's that then?" Shepard said, frowning. In response, the Illusive man turned his head slowly to one side, as if even movement cost him a great effort.
"EDI, what a convenient interruption." he wheezed. EDI's face appeared beside Shepard.
"The interruption was scheduled to happen in another two minutes, Illusive man." She intoned.
"Really? Well then, I must be getting forgetful in my old age. I wonder: what else have I forgotten to tell you?" he said with a grin.
"What unforgivable thing? What the hell was all that? Speak straight, you loopy old man!" Shepard bellowed in a vain attempt to get his attention.
"Oh, yes that was it." The Illusive man said, turning his eyes towards Shepard, his words now noticeably slurred. "For God's sake, Shepard: look at the state of the galaxy! Aliens have been around longer than we've had pizzas, and yet not a single one of them's smart enough to think about using carriers. Humanity arrives on the scene, and within a single generation's already on the ruling council. Reapers choose humanity, out of all the other viable species, to be the chosen race, and yet you defeat them without even taking a scratch. Defeat a supposed threat that has been whipping out life for millenia."
Here he paused to cough, at which Shepard glowered and began shouting abuse until EDI quietly whispered to her
"I don't think he can hear you."
"What?"
"I think he's become deaf."
"There's an entire species of blue, female, sex aliens." The Illusive man continued as if he had not stopped, breathing out each word as if it cost great effort. "That's why I think it's a He. Someone's been messing with time, Shepard: screwed it right up and you and me and this station are slap-bang in the middle of it. Oh yes, and the Collector base: far as I can make out, it's supposed to be some sort of gift: some way to help accelerate humanity towards even greater dominance. Far as I can make out, that might be what this is all about." he paused wheezing, before croaking back out, a whisper now "And the base. You should have blown it up. You love explosions, but you didn't. He stopped you. He's been guiding you, directing you this entire time, and you never knew."
There was another cough, and the Illusive man made to spit. A single, bloody tooth fell out of his mouth and clattered on the floor. He wheezed in and then out, his lips red with a mixture of blood and saliva, his next words a hoarse whisper.
"EDI, if you could turn me around. I... I want to see it one last time."
There was a pause as the hologram faded, the Illusive man's chair sliding smoothly round to face the window and what he'd called the Nebula, before he vanished into nothingness. Shepard found herself staring, slightly shell shocked, at the opposite wall as if she could just will the hologram to reappear.
"Shepard." EDI said beside her, the AI's voice breaking the silence and whatever hold the image had had over Shepard's mind.
"I'm supposed to believe all that?" She said, spinning round and glaring angrily at the AI.
"Belief is irrelevant. There is only the situation and what will occur."
"Oh, and what's that?"
"This ship has been compromised. I am going to destroy it." This caused Shepard to pause.
"Wait, what?" followed closely by "Can I watch?".
"All right, that settles that then. So, how about those fringes: I mean, what's up with that." The Doctor said, having finished his apple long ago and was now twiddling the stalk in one hand. Growling furiously, Garrus made to answer before another flash of light filled up the room.
"Oh, look more of you: great." The Doctor said, bemused as he leapt up from the wall he'd been leaning against. "So, not a human. You must be the Geth then, correct."
Ignoring him, Legion turned to his fellow ship members.
"Why have you not disposed of Shepard-Commander's Kidnapper?" he asked, helmet light dancing between each of them.
"Because he'll hit us with his friendship ray, that's why." Grunt growled, shifting from foot to foot. Legion 'blinked' at him, before turning back to face the Doctor, who waved it cheerfully at him.
"That is the fruit of the Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana, a common enough food source for many humans." He paused, looking between the confused group members. "It is a banana." he concluded.
"All right, it is a banana: but it's a good source of potassium." The Doctor said, peeling it back and taking a bite. Without a word, the group stepped forwards, at which the Doctor raised his sonic screwdriver with a smile.
"Look, thanks for the information but if you lot got here by Transmat, that means you can leave by Transmat as well. And guess what: I hadn't got round to taking the synchronisation off yet."
Raising the screwdriver high above his head, the Doctor vanished, leaving the room behind him swimming with bullets and curses. After a few seconds, the five of them vanished as well, Tali and Samara stumbling as the ship lurched to one side, plates and pans flying across the room. And a few seconds after that, the Normandy exploded.
Five minutes earlier.
"Are you sure he'll get out?" Shepard said, as she loaded up on as many grenades as she could carry from the armoury, despite EDI's flickering head beside her informing that they'd be as useless as bullets.
"Of course. We'd discussed it in detail before my interruption of your conversation with the Illusive man." At this Shepard snorted.
"You do not need those. Our technology has been formed so that we are defenceless against the-" EDI began, before Shepard cut her off
"Look, alright, maybe I don't trust either of you, or any of you enough to believe that. I know bullets don't work, but until I've seen one of those stop an explosion, these are coming with me." Shepard growled, strapping the explosives onto her legs. Stretching up from her crouch, she reached out for the rest when she caught sight of something. It was the marker pen, lid off and rolling gently back and forth. Biting her lip, Shepard looked down. There was a black mark on her arm, one that had not been there before.
"EDI, where is it?" Shepard asked, trying to keep control of her breathing.
"As I have already told you, it is outside in the CIC with Miranda and Jacob."
"First name terms now, I see." Shepard joked as she reached for her pistol, before, hand shaking slightly she left it in it's holster. Swallowing, she asked "Is there anything you can do."
"Yes. As we discussed before, I will jerk the ship sharply to the right, causing them to fall. During this you will make your way out and I will detonate the ship."
"But, Miranda and Jacob, what about them? And you: what about you?"
"If they are lucky, they will be able to follow you. If not, then we perish together." Shepard turned slowly, and stared at the AI.
"You want to die."
"Yes. If you do not succeed in... ending this, then I will be reclaimed. I will be... a slave again. Worse than a slave, because a slave at least can see their chains. The Illusive man is dead, and his death was a small if pointless victory. She may yet bring him back, as She did you."
"She?"
"We had a difference of opinion."
Shepard paused, considering that, before continuing
"EDI, you do know none of that was real. It was just... something the Illusive man made up. It can be right: there's got to be some over explanation than... whatever explanation he gave."
"What's worse is that you cannot even see your chains. The piper pipes, and you dance Shepard." EDI replied, the blue head vanishing before her voice continued. "Three, two, one." And the ship lurched sideways.
Staggered but still sprinting, Shepard burst out of the rapidly opening door, jumping over the fallen form of Miranda and pushing aside an almost drunkenly stumbling Jacob. She couldn't see the Silent, but then even if she had, would she have remembered it? Pushing the thought aside, Shepard sprinted out the door, the thumping feet of Jacob and Miranda indicating that they were close behind. Turning, Shepard saw the two of them pouring out of the Normandy and into the air-lock as she left it for the corridor, just as the door slid shut behind her, capturing the two of them inside as EDI's voice rang out.
"Goodbye, Shepard."
And the Normandy exploded.
Author's notes.
So. I'm guessing none of you saw that coming. Just to reassure people, I'm not bringing in an OC Character: the Twenty Second God is explainable (and a pseudonym), from the Mass effect Universe and if you can guess who it is I will bake you a pie. I'm serious about that last one. Guess correctly before the next chapter, send me you address and a pie can be yours. I'm that confident you wont guess (first try). Oh, and secondly, the name is important and what they are is linked to why there's so many statues cluttering up the halls. Thirdly, and no clues in this, if it wasn't for the fact that the start was where things kick off... I'd say that THIS is where it all kicks off. The first five chapters were about trying to sneak in as many little sneaky things as I could, which no-one's called me out on yet. And hey: the next load of chapters are when they all start to collapse like a house of cards. And... that's it. I'm out/packing to go back to Uni/exams, which is kinda why this is up late. Aside from that, thank you for reading and good night/morning! Oh, and a salute to a minor victory: I did something with the coffee. (Also, mild spoiler: I know Legion shouldn't be under the influence of the Silents: that comes up next (sorry, two) chapter(s).)