Desecration Smile – Red Hot Chili Peppers
Shepard awoke from the rolling blackout of oblivion, clutching her chest as she gasped for air, taking a moment to analyze her situation.
She was on an operating table in a sterile room. She was alone, but there was a woman over the loudspeaker; Shepard was aware of her speaking but could not comprehend the words, hearing them as if from the end of a long tunnel. There were gunshots resonating from an adjacent room.
Military instinct kicked in and she dove down from the bed, taking cover behind the operating table as she scanned the room quickly with her Omni-Tool, searching for weapons and armour. Her tool pinged to indicate to her that they were in a locker to her right, and after lifting her head out of cover briefly to ensure no one had joined her in the room, she dove to the locker and installed the foreign equipment before diving back into cover to re-analyze.
"Shepard!" the woman commanded as she regained use of her hearing. "We need to get you out of there. There are mechs overrunning the facility, you'll need to fight your way out."
Shepard took several slow, steady breaths, trying to calm the panic rising in her chest. She had no idea where she was, how she got there, or what the hell was going on, but she knew now was not the time to ask questions.
She systematically eliminated the hostile mechs, her mind barely in the battle but the mechs proving to be about as difficult to take down as house cats compared to the countless geth prime that she defeated in the past. Her focus wavered in and out of battle until she encountered the first human in the cursed facility.
Diving into cover beside him to assist him with taking out a small group of mechs, she glanced at his armour, becoming startled when she realized that he was working for... Cerberus?
Although both her parents and the Alliance had engrained into her that remaining calm was a virtue, she felt her patience waver as she growled to the man, "What the hell is going on?" She summoned a biotic throw, much more powerful than any she had been able to summon in the past, and threw the last mech into the wall, watching as his head exploded like a firework.
"Didn't expect to see you up and about, Commander," he said, giving her a quick salute.
"Explain," she growled, his politeness and demure manner failing to calm her.
He informed her that the facility was under attack and they didn't have much time, but he knew that at a minimum she deserved a briefing. Reaching his hand out to shake hers, he introduced himself as Jacob Taylor, and briefly explained Project Lazarus: the two-year project funded by Cerberus to bring her back from the dead after she had been spaced.
Shepard closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief as images of her death swarmed before her eyes. She remembered the attack on her ship and her crew members escaping in the pods. She remembered Ashley escaping, which was a small relief in the day which had so far proven to be excruciatingly confusing. With a shiver racking through her whole body, she recalled Joker's stubbornness to 'go down with his ship', and how his persistence resulted in her being spaced with the last blast to the ship. The feeling of agony came back to her with memories of her gasping for air, her lungs scorching, her every cell begging for oxygen before she died. Her memory after that was black with the exception of her odd dream.
Jacob persisted that they had to get out of the facility to meet with the woman over the loudspeaker, Miranda, who would explain everything further. Wiping the image of being spaced out of her head, Shepard lead the way.
The Cerberus operative had a fair shot and some biotic ability, but Shepard was an entirely different soldier than she had been before her death. Although her shot with a pistol had always been far above average, she was landing every shot and her biotics smashed through everything in her way. Not a single enemy shot made it further than her shields. Sheer will and conviction brought them through room after room, eliminating every mech with ease. She barely paid attention as they encountered another injured Cerberus employee, Wilson, feeling something similar to the Krogan bloodrage running through her veins. She had no trust and even less faith in the Cerberus operatives, so she would send them to flank her in cover to keep them out of danger while keeping an eye on them so she wouldn't get shot in the back.
She felt unusual in ways that she could barely describe; but she knew that she was merciless in a way that her compassion had forbidden before. She worked with incredible daring, never wearing down and dodging every shot as she weaved across the battlefield, working with a precision and cunning she attributed to either something Cerberus had done with her or the God-like feeling that was associated with being resurrected.
They reached Miranda, and Zoey was so caught up in her thoughts she barely acknowledged Miranda shooting Wilson, only feeling grateful that another Cerberus idiot was out of their ranks.
"Shepard, I'm sure you have many questions..."
"Take me to your boss." Shepard held her head high, looking down at Miranda. As her adrenaline came down with the thrill of combat leaving her, she lamely added, "Please."
"Of course, right this way."
Jacob, Miranda, and Shepard were on a shuttle on their way to the Cerberus head's office, to see the man only referred to as "The Illusive Man", which Shepard found to be incredibly crass. Jacob and Miranda questioned her about her activities before her death as though her memory was lost; but everything felt perfectly clear to Shepard, like the two years of her reconstruction were simply her taking a nap.
"Do you remember who you nominated for the position of human Council member?"
"Of course. It was Ambassador Udina."
"And which crew member did you lose on Virmire, when you took down Saren's krogan breeding facility?"
"Kaiden Alenko," she responded, looking down at the floor of the ship in sadness as his name left her lips. "May he rest in peace." She looked up at the two operatives. "Do we really need to bring up such painful memories? I'd appreciate having some time to think all this new information over."
"Of course, Shepard," Jacob responded, silencing Miranda with a glare when she opened her mouth. "We'll be at the facility shortly."
Shepard leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and staring at her hands while losing herself in her thoughts. Two entire years had passed in blackness. Where were her team members? Why had Cerberus funded this mad project? What had happened to the Reaper threat in the past two years? What technology had Cerberus put in her to bring her back? Was her family still alive?
She followed Miranda and Jacob out of the shuttle and into the pristine facility. She stopped when they passed by a reflective surface, her jaw dropping in shock. Her scar from her battle at Elysium that ran from her cheek to her forehead was gone, and her entire appearance was different; her hair and eyebrows were thicker, they had made her nose slightly smaller, brought her eyes millimetres closer together, and filled in her normally thin lips.
"Miranda," she whispered, pointing to the mirror. "What the hell is this?"
"We used our discretion to make some minor modifications to your appearance during Lazarus. We wanted to make you more marketable."
Shepard narrowed her eyes at her. "Marketable? What am I to you, a product?"
"Not exactly, but we performed a study among humans, and over 75% of them found your appearance during the fight against Saren to be too... aggressive. So for the sake of your current mission, we softened some of your features, and made a few minor improvements." Miranda smiled slyly, her hand on her hip. Shepard had barely noticed how perfectly proportionate and symmetrical Operative Lawson was. Although Shepard was never one to focus on her looks, she realized immediately the weight that Miranda put on hers, and with her directing the project, she wasn't surprised that Miranda wanted to 'improve' her.
Nonetheless, Shepard felt the moral ambiguity in changing her without her consent. She felt disgusted, violated. "You had no right," she snarled. "I am who I am. You have no right to... change me... to what suits you."
"You were dead, you had no say. Now let's go, The Illusive Man doesn't like to be kept waiting."
The Illusive Man sat at his armchair, a wide smile on his face. The time had finally come. Shepard was back.
He intended for her to find out everything on her own, but he was thrilled that humanity's vessel for salvation was finally alive. He took a long drag from his cigarette and laughed lightly when he heard Shepard growl a greeting at him.
"Shepard! The fate of the galaxy is in your hands again."
Although he had explained it countless times, he took his time with Shepard, explaining the disappearing human colonies throughout the Terminus systems.
Shepard gazed at him, her brow slightly furrowed, absorbing every bit of knowledge that he sent to her. She wasn't surprised to realize that the Council was as complacent about humanity's problems as before, and she realized that in order to help these colonists she had no choice but to team up with Cerberus.
"Illusive Man, when I was eighteen and joined the Systems Alliance, I said to myself: 'Zoey, you're going to spend all of your time, from now until retirement, saving as many lives as you can'. I plan to keep that vow. But remember, I work for humanity, not for you."
"Excellent. I'm glad humanity's best interests are such a priority for you."
"Any lives, Illusive Man. Asari, turian, salarian, hanar, krogan, elcor, volus, quarian, and human alike."
"As you wish, Shepard. As long as humanity's-"
Shepard wanted to change the subject quickly, tiring of his pro-human tendancies. "Where is my old crew?"
"Most of your Alliance crew members escaped when your ship went down. I have a few who have agreed to serve with you again, you'll reunite with them shortly."
"And my non-Alliance crew members?"
"Spread across the galaxy. I have been unable to contact most of them."
"My family?"
"Your parents and brother are alive and well. Your parents are currently serving aboard the MSV Yerevan."
"Good," Shepard responded. She made a mental note of the ship name so she could get in contact with them as soon as she could. "Now Illusive Man, you've mentioned these... upgrades, that have been done to me."
"Yes, Shepard."
"What sort of upgrades have been done?"
"We aren't controlling you in any way, if that's what you're thinking," The Illusive Man took a long drink of his scotch. "Operative Lawson wanted to control you, but I wanted to keep you exactly the way you were when you took down Saren."
"Then why the hell did you let her change my appearance?"
The Illusive Man laughed openly at this. "Well, Shepard, you're the face of the fight against the Collectors. We wanted a face that people felt compelled to follow."
She ignored the clear dig at her natural appearance. "What else have you done?"
"We've improved your biotics, and your combat reaction times." The Illusive Man turned his chair so that he was facing the planet before him. "We need to focus on the mission. I want you to investigate the colony of Freedom's Progress and then come back and report back to me."
He bid her a curt goodbye before cutting the comm. He rose from his chair and climbed on top of the attractive model lying in his bed, a wicked smile on his face.
Wilson had performed perfectly. It was a necessary pity that Miranda had to kill him. Everything was falling into place.