Chapter 2
I woke up face down in a ditch underneath a bridge. I felt a tingling sensation as my battle-suit fizzled and cracked, the remaining energy from the fuel cells escaping into the water. My body felt like a ton of bricks, my entire back was bruised. If it wasn't for the nanoweave fibers that made up my skin and bones, I would've probably still turned to paste despite my biotics and kinetic shields taking the brunt of the impact.
The citadels wings were closed, filtering the light from the nearby sun. It was the only way for the entire colony to create the illusion of the night. Various street lights lit up lining the streets parallel to the river. Turning on my Omni-tool I checked the internal machinations of my battle-suit.
It read
Fuel cells: Drained
Kinetic Barriers: Offline
Life support: Offline
Armor integrity: 50%.
'Good, at least the armor is still intact.' I thought as I rolled over to my back, facing the underside of the bridge.
My muscles tensed and ached as it hit the soft, grass covered bank. Images from the past few days rushed to the fore front of my conscious mind. Attacking Shepard, ambushing him in the restaurant, stealing his identity in the archives, stealing his ship, losing to him. It hit me like a flood of rachni soldiers. Tears welled up in my eyes as I realized my current predicament, I was just a clone. Something created for spare parts, a fail safe in case the real Shepard needed to regrow an arm, or maybe an organ. I wasn't greater, nor was I lesser, I simply was. I existed for one purpose and my purpose was never necessary.
I was given a new direction by Brooks. She told me that if I could prove to the galaxy that I was better than the original, that I could defeat the real Shepard, then in turn I could replace him entirely. She was wrong of course, there is simply no beating that man. He is the embodiment of destiny, the avatar of victory, the paragon of humanity, yet he was also human. He wasn't perfect but he didn't need to be. Where he himself was lacking, his friends and allies more than made up the difference. I understood that perfectly when they reached out to save him from falling off the Normandy. I laughed as tears rolled down my cheeks. Realizing that you weren't supposed to be alive, yet not having the courage to kill yourself can do that to you. If I can't replace him. Then what am I supposed to do?
I woke up to another familiar beep from my HUD,
Fuel Cells: Charged
Kinetic Barriers: Online
Life Support: Online
Armor Integrity: 70%
The citadel wings were open once more and, the light from the sun cascaded into the waking colony. I wasn't in as much pain as I had been from yesterday. At least the Cerberus implants and nano technology was good for something. I stood up slowly, feeling the weight of my healing body. I stretched out and yawned loudly, closing my eyes. When I opened them, I finally noticed the dozens of C-Sec officers lining the streets over looking the river, their high powered plasma rifles trained on me. I smiled saying, "This should be fun" as I activated my cloaking device.