Jack

The first sensation that returned to her was the tingling of her skin. It felt as if needles were piercing all over her entire body. It was a shitty experience to have but not the first time Jack felt that particular form of pain.

One task that the pain accomplished was snapping a person awake. She forced her eyes open. Her muscles were sluggish and weak with cold and sleep, so she amplified their force with her biotics. When she tried to move, Jack found herself strapped to table, and the memory of that bastard warden putting her there flooded back. She used the new found anger to rip free of her shackles, falling on the floor when her wobbly legs failed to hold her upright.

Jack took deep breaths. The warm air felt like fire on her cold lungs, but she reveled in ability to take long draws of air after being frozen alive. It did nothing for the splitting headache she was suffering though. It felt like the front of her skull was crushing her brain.

A whirring sound drew her attention. She looked up and spotted four heavy mechs readying whatever weapons they had. Jack didn't waste any time. She charged with her fist glowing with biotic power and slammed into the mech just in front of her. It flew into the wall. It stuttered, attempting to raise its gun once before a piece of it exploded. It didn't move after that.

She didn't waste time gloating. She lifted another one, its heavy weight straining her biotics. Jack threw it against the wall with enough strength to shatter its protective armor plates. It felt real fucking good to cut loose.

The mech behind her began to warm up its chain gun. She threw up a biotic barrier, feeling the bullets bounce harmless off it. Then, she wrestled with the mech, fighting to control the gun's aim. When she finally took control, she aimed it at the mech's partner. The barrage of fire ripped through it, piercing deep into the inner workings. It exploded and sent pieces of itself into the last mech's chain gun, making it unusable.

But the machine was still an idiot. It braced itself and readied its grenade launcher. Jack took control of that arm as well, aiming it at the wall. The round shot out and tore a hole in the metal as the station shuttered underneath her from the blast. She grinned at the destruction she brought on this hell. She used her biotics on the rest of the mech's heavy ammo, detonating them, before racing out the new opening.

She found chaos ruling outside the small cryo room. The prisoners had somehow escaped their cell and were wreaking havoc any way they could. She passed one ruthlessly beating a guard with a baton. The guard's movements were slowing as the man slammed the rod into his face again and again.

Jack didn't bother to stop. What the people of this place did to each other didn't matter to her. As long as they didn't get in her way, they could do whatever they wanted to each other.

But as she ran, Jack realized she had been here before. The memories she fought to keep forgotten came back. She was in a different prison but a prison all the same. Cerberus soldiers turned on her. The other kids fought her. There was terror and destruction and confusion. There was anger and fear and survival.

"All guards: restore order!" the warden yelled over the PA, bringing Jack back to the present. "Lethal force authorized! But don't kill Jack! Techs: lockdown! Lockdown!"

She smiled despite herself. His reluctance to kill her would make escaping this hellhole that much easier.

She turned a corner and found a guard with his back turned. The panic and anger from her escape from Cerberus came rushing back at the familiar scene. Jack focused on the anger. Panic would get her killed. Anger would only make her stronger.

The guard turned, but it was too late. Jack was already in the air and ready to drive her fist into his chin. She felt the satisfying crunch of bones being broken and heard a snap as his neck gave way. She didn't wait around to confirm the kill, however. She needed to keep moving.

She moved through the prison as fast as she could, responding to the opportunistic bastards that took potshots at her by crushing them with biotics. The air was full of acrid smoke, and the station rumbled with explosions off in the distance. The VI was constantly reporting breaches in the hull and the death that followed.

The destruction around her seemed to reenergize her, and the past was swept from her mind. Jack couldn't help but smile, fierce and ecstatic. She was finally free: free from the cage, free from the beatings, free from the rape.

But best of all, she was free to use her biotics. She didn't realize how important they were to her until they were taken away. It was like a piece of her was missing while she wore that dampener. It was an old friend, the only one she really could truly rely on.

Somehow, she made it to the docking bay. She hadn't been heading that way on purpose, choosing to lose herself in the chaos for a little while longer before she attempted her escape, but she was here regardless and should make the best of it.

There were two guards blocking her way. One of them yelled something at her, but she didn't care enough to really listen. Jack lifted one with her biotics and punched him into the window, hard enough to crack the glass. She shoved the other into the opposite wall, and knocked him unconscious.

She searched the bay for anything that could make a quick getaway. The area was dominated with a ship that would do nicely. It was large and sleek. Jack could imagine the trouble she could get into with a machine like that.

Then she noticed the symbol near the nose of the ship.

"Cerberus," she sneered.

An overwhelming hatred hit her. She spat and cursed, too self-involved to notice a guard rushing toward her. When she finally did hear his rapidly approaching footsteps, he was close, close enough to grab her. But a shot rang out, and Jack was sprayed with the guard's blood. She turned to find some guy in armor. He wasn't one of the guards by the look of him, and he did just help her, so she kept herself from smearing the guy across the wall. For now.

Two others joined him: a turian and some bitch with a Cerberus logo displayed proudly on her chest. The ship must belong to them. They must be Cerberus.

"What the hell do you want?" Jack snapped as she readied herself for whatever they may throw at her. Because everyone always wanted something, and most weren't nice about asking.

"You're in a bad situation, and I'm going to get you out of here," the man said.

A fucking knight in shining armor, she thought. "Shit, you sound like a pussy. I'm not going anywhere with you. You're Cerberus."

The fucker smiled, smiled at her. "I'm here to ask for your help. Your distrust of Cerberus makes me want you on my crew that much more."

Jack didn't believe his bullshit. "You show up in a Cerberus frigate to take me away somewhere, and you expect me to go with you willingly? Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Look around you, Jack. This place is going down, and we are the only ride out of here. We want to take you to safety and are asking for your help. I don't think you'll find a better offer."

His use of her name didn't surprise her. Of course he would know her name. He was probably here for her.

"We could sedate her and revive her once we are safely onboard and away from here," the Cerberus bitch said.

Jack glared at her. "I'd like to see you try."

"No," the knight answered before anyone else could. "We're not going to attack her." He turned back to her. "What would it take for you to trust me?"

She thought about that question for a moment. She realized this was a perfect opportunity to look into Cerberus' files on her. There were a lot of blanks she couldn't fill in, answers she couldn't find on her own.

"I bet your ship's got lots of Cerberus databases. I want to look at those files. See what Cerberus has got on me. That's my price."

He didn't hesitate. "Done."

The Cerberus slut didn't seem to like his answer. "Shepard, you don't have the authority-"

"If that's what she wants, that's what she gets."

This day keeps getting better and better, she thought. "Awwww. Does the Cerberus cheerleader not like our little arrangement? Good." She turned and headed to the docking tube leading to the Cerberus ship. "So why the hell are we standing here?"

Jack was scouring the various datapads one of the Cerberus crewmen gave her. The gratingly cheerful redhead had tried to talk to her after handing them over, but Jack really wasn't in the mood to listen. She gave her a glare, and the redhead got the hint, leaving her alone with the new information. Still, Jack got the feeling she didn't scare the woman like she wanted.

There was a lot to go through: reports, censuses, data points, inventory. They must have given her everything, hoping to wear down her resolve and forcing her to give up before she reached anything significant. Cerberus severely underestimated her, just like they did when she escaped them. She wouldn't stop until she found the answers she was looking for.

Footsteps on the metal grating drew her attention away from the datapads. She looked up to find Shepard standing there, dressed in the Cerberus uniform but with the emblems torn off.

Jack was surprised when she found out the man that came for her was the same man the killed some rogue Spectre that was attacking the Citadel over two years ago. He didn't look impressive enough to fit the stories she heard about him.

"Hey," Jack greeted. She could tell him to get lost, but he did help her get away from that prison and gave her all of this data. She figured she could be somewhat conversational.

"Find anything interesting yet?" he asked, nodding to the datapads.

"Bits and pieces. There's a lot here. Thanks for letting me look at these files, by the way." Expressing her thanks felt foreign to her. She didn't like feeling compelled to do so.

"I'm glad they're helping."

Now he was getting too comfortable around her. "Listen. I don't need a friend. I'm using you for these files. That's it. I'm going to find something in here I can use. I can feel it."

"And once you find it?"

Jack stood up and walked deeper into the ship, away from Shepard. "Then, I'm going after Cerberus. The galaxy is going to be a lot quieter when I'm done."

"I won't let you go on a killing spree," Shepard said like the child scout he was.

She laughed. "I'd like to see you try and stop me." One of them would end up dead if he did, and it wasn't going to be her.

"Why do you hate Cerberus so much? I know they've done a lot of horrible things, but what's your reason?"

She spit, trying to get the bad taste out of her mouth that came whenever she thought about Cerberus. "They raised me in a research facility. I escaped when I was a kid. Been on the run ever since. And they've been chasing me ever since. But soon I'm going to chase them."

"You think about this a lot, don't you? About getting even."

He didn't know the half of it. "I go to sleep with this. I wake up with it. Everyone I kill, I pretend it's the ones that did this to me."

"You shouldn't let your anger drive you," he said. "It'll only get you killed."

Now he went too far. She decided what should motivate her, not some model soldier. "Screw you, Shepard. If I want your advice, I'll ask for it. Until then, just shove it and stay out of my business."

He put his hands up. "Okay, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to help."

I don't need your help. I don't need anyone's help, she thought.

He looked around the dark area she set up in. "Do you want better quarters? You don't have to live down here."

"It's dark, quiet, and hard to find," Jack explained. "That spells safety to me."

Shepard nodded, as if he understood what she meant. How could he? He was the Alliance golden boy if the Cerberus file on him could be believed.

"I should go and let you get back to your research."

"Yep," was her response.

He turned to leave, but stopped just before the steps. "My door is always open if you need something."

Jack chose not to answer, finding him too eager to fix her. She found it grating. She didn't need to be fixed. She survived this long the way she was. There was no need to change it.

Eventually, Shepard's footsteps disappeared, leaving her alone in her pit with her data and anger.