Chapter Twenty-Two: The Truth is Within

Hours Earlier

He awoke in a dark place a place of the Voice and blackness. It was a place the Voice would show up in. Zane hated this place for so many reasons.

"Well, well, well. You have finally come. I have been waiting." He heard a toneless voice say and Zane turned and saw a man in icy armor with icy blue eyes.

"Vitkin I presume."

"You catch on quick."

"You have been in contact with me for quite some time. It makes sense that you would want to communicate directly. But was knocking me out necessary? Was separating me from my friends really necessary?" He asked and Vitkin paced.

"Indeed, we have much to discuss. I have conversations to make with your friends and they are of the private nature. You will be happy to know it will involve you."

"Oh goody." Zane said sarcastically. He looked at Vitkin as it paced back and forth and he felt its eyes scanning him like a customer looking at a possible tool.

"I can kill you. You know, that right?" Zane simply nodded.

"But you won't do that. You have a use for me."

"I did, but as I look at the others I notice that you have grown too attached to them. Perhaps I should kill them? Destroy the distraction?"

He saw a hazy image of him looking at his friends as they looked at him walking silently. He had glowing blue eyes.

"What am I looking at?"

"What is happening right now." It said and Zane saw Tali pressing herself against the window trying to get his attention he assumed.

"Where am I going?"

"All in due time, Tool." Vitkin said.

"What will you do to them?" He asked pointing at his friends. As he asked he stared at Tali. She looked frightened and he wanted to help her to comfort her. He didn't want to see her frightened. She was his pillar, his support. If she broke then he would fall shortly behind her.

"Nothing super painful. I will reveal some truths and some possible endings." Zane looked at Vitkin.

"What truths?"

"You know which ones." Zane got the feeling Vitkin was smiling but more than that, he felt like Vitkin took pleasure in his terror.

"No, Vitkin, don't!" He begged and Vitkin laughed.

"You were not going to tell them. You were not going to tell her."

"Vitkin!"

"If you would've come here alone like expected then it wouldn't have come to this. You have yourself to blame for this." Vitkin said and Zane tried imagining melting Vitkin with his eyes. Vitkin laughed at him and circled around Zane like a shark.

"I had things to do!" Zane exclaimed and Vitkin chuckled.

"I am sure. You have done better than I thought. Better than I expected you to do. However, you could have been so much more if you would've just been in your room that night."

"What night?"

…

An image of his old room appeared it was raining and lightning could be heard crackling above him. Thunder sounded in the distance. It was a dream he knew that but he still felt cold and damp in the rain. He opened the door and walked into the dark room. Inside, he saw himself wrapped in a blanket walking out of his room. He was angry and disgruntled, tired and annoyed.

At the wall was a dog -an English bulldog- that sat down with its back at the wall. Dark brown fur with white around the face and belly. Its tongue out that made it looked like it was smiling. He had seen this dog before…it was long ago and he had seen it in this exact same position…Achilles before he died. The night before he died.

"Stupid dog." His apparition said. Zane knew exactly why he said that and knew exactly what he was thinking. "Wonder what it would be like if Achilles was just gone?" He had thought at the time.

Achilles was riddled with fleas at the time and no matter what he and his parents did the damn things always returned. Worse yet Achilles was allergic and lost hair because of it. He also preferred to sleep in Zane's room thus, Zane's bed would get a fuck-ton of fleas and hair and that night it was at its worse. He couldn't sleep and toss and turned in his bed for several hours until he was fed up with the scratching and the feeling of tiny bugs crawling over him.

Zane never forgave himself for saying what he said. Nor for thinking what he thought. The apparition of Zane walked into the living room and with a grunt, he soon laid down on the couch and began to fall asleep.

Achilles rose from his sitting spot and entered Zane's room and began to sleep on the floor beside his bed. He was so comfortable and then an icy blue energy surrounded the room. Zane saw Achilles' chest rise and fall with a quickening speed.

"What is happening?!" Zane asked.

"I knew you were in this room when you slept. I was going to transport you this night. But you were not there." Zane watched in fear as Achilles' chest soon began to slow down and then it stopped entirely. The once red cheeks turned blue and then a dead purple.

The next morning Zane would find him and he would regret what he said and thought. He would hope Achilles forgave him and his family thought Achilles died of natural causes. He was almost nine years old after all. And he was the runt of his litter.

The images began to fade as Zane grew angry.

…

"You killed him!" Zane yelled and pointed at Vitkin. "It is your fault he died!"

"For there to be a life there must be a death. Especially when you bring someone from the past into the future. You both had to die before you could be reborn. As for your canine friend, he was going to die anyway. I gave him a better life."

"You gave him a better life unintentionally, and furthermore, you sent him to a future where he would watch the galaxy burn!"

"You're right. But you know what? I can't change what I have done! I can only move on."

"How did he even become a Turian?" Zane asked and another image of a room appeared. Tali was in this room and it had vats of green and tables plus computer terminals. She read one of the terminals and based on her movements she was incredibly confused by what it said. And then the image stilled. And he was put in the room

…

He wanted to touch her, to hug her, to tell her it would be alright. But when he reached for her his hand went through her.

"That is not why you are here."

"Yea…I know." Zane hissed and clenched his hand into a fist then he went to Vitkin. They stood in front of a vat and Zane wondered what it was.

"Nanites and a gel meant to simulate whatever I want it too. An electrical current goes through the gel and stimulates the nanites to do what I request. In this case…to create life."

"What?" Zane asked and then image faded to an earlier time. Inside the vat was a Turian man an alarm began to ring and the gel was drained. Two large beings with large fangs protruding through the bottom of their face came and carried the man to a table.

Robotic arms came and began to send more currents to energy through the man. Zane saw who the man was. It was Achilles but Zane was still unsure how it was done and what Vitkin was showing him.

After many currents of energy passed through and over Achilles still lifeless body he began to open his eyes.

"Wha…where am I?" He asked. But he got no answer instead he was given an injection to the arm and he was asleep again.

"He was transported to the Citadel. I had it where I had minimal control over his actions. I knew that when you were chosen that you had insight I lacked. Achilles was a practice run to see if I had given him the right amount of control…I did not. He decided to become a lowly cop instead of becoming a Spectre like I had planned for you."

"A Spectre? Me?"

"Indeed, the first actually. I had it planned perfectly that you would have just enough time to get renown in the Alliance and then take -what is now- Shepard's place. But that didn't happen. You didn't think that your will to lead and gain power came from yourself, did you? Well, not all of it at least. That is your subconscious demanding it because I programmed you to do it." Zane stilled at his words.

"Pro... programmed?" He stuttered

"You are not the Zane of your time. You are but a memory of him. I gave you his memories, his mannerisms, his wills, but all of it is artificial."

The news hit Zane hard…he wasn't himself. He was something else. An A.I. that thought it was Zane.

"As I said, you have his memories, his personality, everything he was, you are. And you are so much more."

"How did I learn to fight like I have? How did I age?"

"Besides your natural instinct to learn? I gave you the information you would need. You saw visions but they were not dreams but possible futures and pasts of your soul traveling the universe." Vitkin was quiet as was Zane for a moment.

"How do I age if I am made from gel and nanites?" He asked."

"The nanites can perfectly replicate nearly anything, from blood to hormones to aging."

"But I bleed red blood how did I come from that vat?!"

"The gel changes colors." It said with little emotion.

"I can feel emotions! You cannot replicate..."

"Emotions are nothing more than electrical impulses throughout the body and a matching hormone to give a euphoric or distraught feeling. The gel and nanites simulate these things perfectly. You have everything a human body has. It is just simulated."

…

Zane hit the floor as he sat down. The world faded in front of him. He thought about the years he had been on the Citadel, the years he had been in this galaxy. And never once did he question he was who he was. But now questions passed his mind as quickly as the last.

"What am I?"

"Am I even human?"

"What will Shepard think?"

"What will Tali think?"

The last one hurt him the most. She would hate him. He knew it. How could she love him now? How could anyone love him now? He wasn't flesh and blood. he just looked like he was and, in the end, he was coded to be a certain way.

"If I am coded…how am I able to resist you? Why didn't I immediately come to you when the Voice asked me?"

"I increased my control over you in a small way. A chip that when activated makes you into little more than a husk. The plan was that if you also refuse the path laid out before you then you would be forced to do it by me. I also added something else deep inside your brain that would keep you on the right track. A little friend to help guide you to me."

"The Voice?" Zane asked and it nodded.

"Indeed, but it seems I underestimated your human ways. The ways of Zane. If only I knew how attached you became I would've increased it more so."

"What do you mean?" And then an image of Tali walking into a room before she fell to her knees in pain. "No! Vitkin stop it!" Zane saw her clutch at her helmet and she tried to fight through the pain.

"My point exactly. What is she to you? She isn't like you. And she would hate you for what you are so why care anymore?"

"I love her damn it that's why!" Zane said tears springing to his eyes.

"We will see."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Vitkin began to laugh and he knew he needed to become conscious. He tried to rip through the veil that surrounded him but it did nothing and only pain was the result. "AHHH!" He yelled and Vitkin growled.

"You shouldn't have done that."

"Oh? And why is that?"

…

Another image appeared and he heard his name be called. He saw himself stop in his tracks and turn around. Zane followed his apparition's gaze and soon saw Shepard and the other calling to him.

He saw his apparition lift his rifle and prepare to fire.

"No!" He shouted and with him knowing that he was in that apparition somewhere he ordered himself to miss. The bullet fired but barely missed. "I will not do it!" Zane told Vitkin and he was rewarded with pain.

"Stop it!"

"You will do as you are commanded Tool!"

"I will not fall to you or no one else! If I go out it is because I allow it. I will not lose my mind to you." Zane told Vitkin who was seething through its helmet.

"You already have. Every movement you take, every word you speak, every action you make is allowed by me."

Zane said nothing and charged at Vitkin. It sidestepped him and blasted him with a blast of ice. Vitkin walked to Zane who was on the ground and stood over him.

"Foolish boy. You are no match for…" Zane swept his leg out and caught Vitkin's and brought it down.

"You will lose Reaper!" Zane called out and began to punch at Vitkin. While Vitkin looked like it was wearing armor it wasn't. Each blow hurting it.

"Ahh!" And then another blast of ice blew Zane away. Zane quickly got back up and saw his apparition about to fire at Shepard and again he demanded it to miss. He had to do it harder and stronger to break Vitkin's hold but it worked.

"You will not kill them Vitkin."

"You're right…you will." Zane tried to break through and get control of his body again.

"Ahhh!" The pain was intense, as intense it had ever been and then like a switch had been flipped it was gone. He stared at Vitkin who had a confident look in its eyes. "You shouldn't have done that." Zane said in a lowly tone.

"Then come then, Tool. Let's see how good you really are." Vitkin taunted and Zane was all too ready to oblige it.

He charged Vitkin and soon he was lifted off his feet and cast aside. He slid across the floor and soon got back up. He saw Vitkin laughing as it prepared for another attack.

"I am a god to you boy. An Emperor of the galaxy what hope do you have?"

Zane ignored him and attacked again and managed to dodge the ice attack and then he resisted the floating attack and managed to get a punch in. A large blast of ice sent Zane flying again. Zane rose from his position and saw Vitkin reeling from the blow. As he marched towards Vitkin he felt energy return and it was too slow to stop the next blow and then a knee to its gut.

"You will not hurt her!" He yelled at it and headbutted Vitkin before throwing it away. Vitkin laughed as it rose quickly and then Zane's feet were frozen in ice.

"Did you think it was that easy? Now we will watch together as you kill her."

…

An image appeared of his apparition entering a well-lit room. The pulsing of icy blue lights made the room a blueish color. Zane's apparition entered a figure on the floor. Zane recognized that figure.

"Tali!" He shouted but it did nothing. He wasn't sure she heard her but he tried harder to break the ice. And then a thought overcame him.

"Vitkin is keeping me in my mind. If this is my mind then it follows my commands. It follows my rules!" He thought about the ice melting and soon enough the ice was nothing more than a puddle at his feet. He then imagined a doorway and it soon came.

And then he had another thought. "Hey, Vitkin!"

"What now?!" It turned and saw Zane with a very large gun in his hands.

"Fuck off." And then he pulled the trigger. And threw the gun before walking through the door.

…

"Ahh!" He shouted as he felt the pain that came to him shortly after he retook control. He dropped his rifle and backed away from it and from her immediately. He went to his knees and tried to hide from her.

"Zane? Zane, it is alright." She said and went to him. She tried to wrap her arms around him but he also tried to stop her.

"No, no, no I almost…" He began, he couldn't believe he had almost done what he had done. Even if it wasn't actually him it shouldn't have come to that! He should've been stronger. Should've been better.

He eventually gave up stopping her embrace and she hugged him tightly.

"I am here Zane. I am here." She told him and he could only hug back as tears flowed out of his eyes.

"I…I almost…I didn't mean to I swear." She only clutched him tighter.

"It is alright and I know it wasn't you. You wouldn't do that Zane."

"I…I am not Zane." He said weakly.

"What?" She asked. Confusion appeared in her eyes as they stared at each other.

"I am a figment of him. I was created here. I was created by Vitkin I am not the real Zane. Never was." He said and she didn't back away.

"You are Zane to me. You are my Zane and that is all I care about. That is all I need." She said gently and he cried harder as he gripped her.

"Tali, watch…out?" Shepard yelled but then he saw them holding each other.

Zane felt a tug in his mind again but ignored it. The tugging grew in strength and he focused on Tali in his arms and the tugging began to go away.

"Raargh! The connection is too strong!" Vitkin rumbled and fear went through Zane and then came the pain. The feeling of hundreds of needles being injected into his brain followed by a jackhammer ripping through his cranium that never ceased to end.

…

She saw Zane shake in pain and clutch at his head. Tears fell from his face and the painful expression on his face told her just how unimaginable the pain he felt was.

"Let him go Vitkin!" She yelled and then the icy figure appeared.

"He is a tool, he was created by me. I will do as I please with him!" And then the rumbling grew louder and harsher and Zane screamed louder. Vitkin was pissed and was making Zane pay for it.

"Why do you call Zane him? But yourself it?" Shepard asked.

"He is still a Zane, he has everything Zane had he just an upgraded version. Myself, I am nothing like I once was. My previous form is nothing more than a simple ghost of the past."

"Why punish Zane? What has he done to deserve what you are putting him through?"

"He disobeyed me. Me! I am his creator! I am his god! I am the reason he lives! Without me, he would be nothing! He would've lived a pathetic existence without purpose! I gave him what he has now. I gave him purpose. He exists because I allow it and he will end when I demand it! Vitkin said and nearly repeated what Sovereign said verbatim. The sound of Zane's screaming told Shepard that he had to get Vitkin to stop punishing Zane or else there wouldn't be a Zane to punish.

"The longer you do this the longer it will take for us to defeat the Reapers! Isn't that what you want? To get vengeance for your people?" Shepard asked and the rumbling seized.

"What I want is control! I want my Empire back. I want my life back. I want my throne. I want my subjects kneeling in front of me and calling me Emperor once more." Vitkin paused before continuing. "Let me have complete control of him. I will have his memories and his knowledge and you will have me at your side. It is a win-win."

"But Zane loses! You will torment him forever!" Tali shouted.

"No…I will erase him completely no more Zane. No more pain he will effectively be dead. As he should've been so long ago. His uses are dried up and I have no use for him any longer." Tali looked at Shepard.

"Please don't do this Shepard. He would fight for us if the positions were switched. You know it and I know it." Tali pleaded.

"Have you already forgotten what would happen if you die on your mission? If I take control it will never come to that." Tali saw Zane still crying as he clutched at his head in pain.

"What?" Shepard asked Tali. But she ignored him and looked figure known as Vitkin.

"I did not forget. But I know Zane and he would never do that. Zane would never become that monster." Tali was sure of this. She knew her Zane and he wasn't a monster. He just thought he was.

"Shepard if you do not allow me this. I will kill him now and you will not have my help."

"I will call your bluff." Shepard said and Tali looked at Shepard shocked.

"He was gambling with Zane's life!"

"So, you hate me that much to allow me to kill your supposed friend?"

"No, I like Zane too much to allow you to use his body as a husk. And I know that your time is running short. You have to help us." Vitkin was silent for a long time before it growled and murmured to itself.

"If only I had another few years…very well Shepard. You win. I will remain in contact with Zane and you shall have both his and my help. I have remained silent for too long. My Great Empire will return one way or another!" Vitkin shouted and then faded away before the Reaper began to shake and she felt a force put her down.

Screens of the outside of the ship appeared and they were moving! Vitkin dug through the grime and skeletal remains of Ilos and then soon they were in the atmosphere and they were in space.

"Commander we are under attack! Collectors have found us! It was a trap!" They heard Joker say and Vitkin simply growled. "Is that a…Reaper!" They heard Joker yell. Vitkin approached the Normandy's location and there was a Collector ship about to begin boarding operations.

"I am Vitkin! Ruler of the Great Empire! I am the bringer of retribution!" Vitkin shouted and began firing its red beams at the Collector ship.

"Joker we are in the Reaper it is a friendly don't worry."

"Yea I see that now." Joker said and he could be heard hyperventilating. Vitkin grabbed ahold of the Collector's ship and from inside the ship, they could hear something open. And it was like Vitkin was sucking in a great breath. Then a great blue beam shot through the Collector ship cutting it in half.

But Vitkin still wasn't done as it then began to fire smaller red beams at the remnants of the ship until nearly nothing remained.

"Consider that my way of saying you have my support, Shepard. And that Zane is safe from my extreme meddling. However, I will remain in contact with him. We are now permanently linked." It said and the tone was something between grateful, angry, and disappointed.

Tali ran to Zane who was still nursing his head but soon he smiled happy that the pain was gone.

"Wow…that was a doozy. I am going to need an aspirin the size of a barrel." He said and looked at her and they placed their foreheads together. "Thank you for being there. And I am sorry I lied about so much. And I understand if me not being the real Zane is a…" She grabbed the back of his neck.

"Listen here bosh'tet. You can't get rid of me that easily I am not done with you yet. You are real and you are mine." She said and smirked as he smirked as well.

"I love you."

"I know." She said and chuckled.