Two years after the destruction of the SSV Normandy.

"Wake up, commander."

Shepard woke with a start, feeling like she'd just been hit with a jolt of electricity. She had no clue where she was and no memory of how she'd gotten there. Alarms sounded all around her, the noise harsh and loud in her ears. Her whole body ached and as she ran her hands over her face she felt scars she didn't recognize. What had happened?

"Your scars haven't finished healing, but I need you to get out of that bed, commander." A woman's voice sounded from somewhere unseen. Was it a comm speaker?

Shepard struggled to push herself up, taking in her surroundings. She was lying on a bed in a sterile room that looked like some sort of laboratory. Her head was spinning. Where was her crew? How had she gotten here?

The memory hit her like a brick: shoving Joker into the evac shuttle, reaching for Garrus' hands, struggling to hold on, the blast burning her out into space, debris ripping through her suit…a struggle to breathe…had she…died? No. She was awake now. But what had happened?

"Shepard," the woman's voice sounded again. "This facility is under attack! You need to get up and get out of there. There's a gun and some armor in the storage locker behind you, that should help."

Shepard sensed the urgency in the woman's voice, whoever she was. She stumbled to her feet, finding it difficult to walk at first, and thrust open the storage locker. She pulled the armor on with thick, clumsy fingers, then grabbed the gun and tested her aim on the wall. She was a little shaky, but she could manage.

"I'm going to guide you through the facility, Shepard. Someone's hacked the security mechs to attack. Someone is trying to kill you. Just follow my lead," the mystery voice said.

Shepard didn't see a better alternative considering she had no clue where she was, no idea how she'd gotten there, and alarms were going off throughout the building. She hurried out of the room and into the next one, down a long corridor with sterile chrome walls, and into a large, open room.

A security mech fired on her when she entered. She ducked behind cover, her heart pounding. The first thought in her mind, under enemy fire, was: 'I wish Garrus were here'. She fired at the mech and took it down in two shots, sweeping up the thermal clip it dropped and moving forward at the mystery woman's behest.

She encountered more mechs as she went, warned ahead of time by the mysterious woman issuing orders over the speaker system. Finally, pressed up against a wall and firing on the mechs, Shepard shouted,

"Who are you and where am I?!"

There was a pause and then the woman spoke. "My name is Miranda Lawson. You're in danger. We can discuss more once we've secured an escape from the facility."

That left Shepard with more questions than it answered, but at least she had a name. She moved on, past a room where a man lay dead and bloodied on the other side of a sheet of bullet-proof glass, fires raging in the distance.

She ran forward, onward and onward, desperately needing to rest; her body felt tired, weak, unnatural. She had so many questions, but a need to survive overrode everything else.

Moving into a new room, she came under fire from three mechs across from her; a chasm several floors deep separated the two sides of the room.

"Shepard, over here!" a man yelled.

This time the voice was actually in the room. A handsome biotic, probably not much older than she was, sat crouched behind the glass barrier preventing access to the floors below, avoiding fire from the mechs. Shepard ran for cover next to him.

"Who are you?" She asked. "Where am I? How do you know my name?"

"Sorry, I know this is probably a little scary right now," the stranger said. "I'm Jacob Taylor. As you can see, things are pretty bad, so we don't have a lot of time to talk. We need to get you to the evac shuttle right away." He spoke slowly and calmly, clearly sensing Shepard's panic.

She rubbed her head and fired on one of the mechs before ducking back down into cover. "What is going on? The last thing I remember, I was floating away from my ship, which had been destroyed. My crew was on an evac shuttle…"

Jacob frowned. "Commander, there's no easy way to say this…" Shepard braced herself for the worst news, expecting him to say that the shuttle had been lost. The thought of Garrus, gone, was the first one in her mind. She really wished she had him here to cover her six. "You've been gone for two years." Jacob finished.

Shepard blinked at him. "What…? Gone? Two years?"

"Like I said, it's a lot to explain."

"It's not 2183?" She asked.

"It's 2185," he responded. "It's a lot to take in, I know. We'll explain everything once we get to the shuttle!" He sent a mech flying with a biotic throw and then helped her to her feet, pulling her along after him.

If her head had been spinning before, she was pretty certain it was going to fly off now. Two years in…what? A coma? What had happened? Did her crew know about this? Or did they think she was dead…?

"Jacob?" a voice sounded over his comm link. "Jacob, this is Wilson. Are you still alive?"

"I'm here, Wilson. With Shepard."

For some reason, the name seemed familiar to Shepard.

"Shepard's alive!? How the…never mind. It can wait. You need to get out of there, go through the service tunnels and meet me at the elevator. We have to get you and Shepard out of here."

Jacob nodded, "Come on, Shepard, this way."

She followed him down more corridors, her lungs aching from the exertion. They ran past more fires, shot down more hacked mechs, the entire time she'd been running and shooting she kept thinking that her body felt disconnected…like it was rebooting itself. Now she knew why. Two years. What had become of her crew?

They finally reached a room where a muscular bald man was waiting near an elevator door. He looked manic upon their approach.

"Good, you made it," he said, shifting impatiently on the spot. "I can't believe it…Shepard's alive." He eyed her unsurely.

"Shepard, this is Wilson. He's the chief medical officer responsible for your recovery," Jacob explained.

"Was I…what exactly happened to me?" she asked, not wanting to speak out loud what she thought had happened.

"You were dead, commander. Absolutely and fundamentally dead," Wilson said. "We found your body and rebuilt you piece by piece."

Shepard felt sick. Dead? For two years? How had they brought her back from the dead?

"Am I…am I some kind of clone?" A horrible feeling was welling in her chest. She felt like the real her. She remembered everything she should have remembered: her entire campaign against Saren, the battle on the Citadel, all of her crew and her friends…Garrus…

"No, commander. You're the same woman you were before you died. We used top of the line technology funded by Cerberus to rebuild you. It cost a lot of money and a lot of time, but clearly the experiment was a success."

"Cerberus?" Shepard had heard of the group, effectively a terrorist organization, funding anti-alien, pro-human colonies and laboratories. They were run by some sort of super-villain figure who called himself the Illusive Man. She'd certainly never heard anything good about them. Why had they brought her back to life? What interest did it serve? Her head was drowning in thoughts…and fatigue. She felt her face again, the scars marring the left side in particular; they hadn't finished her.

"I know Cerberus has a bad rap," Jacob said. "But we want to help you. We'll explain it on the shuttle, like I said. We don't have time to sit around chatting."

"We should go, the evac shuttle is just up the elevator," Wilson said.

"What about Miranda?" Jacob asked. "Have you heard from her?"

"Last time I saw her she was on the other side of the building. It's been overrun by mechs. Whoever hacked the system probably got to her." Wilson shrugged, seeming relatively casual about the possibility of Miranda's death.

Jacob shook his head. "I don't think a handful of mechs could take Miranda out. Let's get Shepard to the shuttle, but we're waiting for Miranda before we pull out."

Wilson smashed the button to the open the elevator, "Fine, but it's your funer-"

The door opened and a gun fired, the bullet slicing through Wilson's skull and lodging into the wall behind him. He slumped to the floor, dead, and a woman stepped out.

She was tall, with a skin-tight suit on that accentuated the curve of her breasts and her hips; a mane of luxurious brown hair and stunning blue eyes completed the look. She was the absolute epitome of modern human beauty. Shepard couldn't help but stare.

"What was that about, Miranda!?" Jacob stormed forward.

She glanced at Wilson's body. "He's the one who hacked the system. He didn't think Shepard would wake up in time. He was trying to sabotage the project, to get Shepard killed. Someone must have paid him handsomely to betray us."

"You're Miranda?" Shepard asked. "You're working with Cerberus?"

Miranda sighed. "Did you tell her, Jacob?"

"No, Wilson did. But I don't think lying to her is going to help our cause."

"We can answer all your questions on the shuttle, commander. Right now we need to get you out of here," Miranda ushered her into the elevator, Jacob close behind.

The elevator rose up and opened onto the shuttle port. There was only one evac shuttle remaining, so they climbed in and Miranda entered the coordinates for some unknown location, likely a Cerberus facility. The shuttle took off and Shepard leaned back, watching the wreckage of the laboratory disappear into space, her heart rate finally slowing.

"Before we answer your questions, commander, we have a few for you. It's just a quick check of your memory. The Illusive Man was very clear that we bring you back exactly as you were, no changes. So I need to make sure you still have all your old memories," Miranda said.

Shepard nodded. "Whatever, I'll answer your questions if you answer mine."

Miranda fired off a series of biographical questions, some things only Shepard would know, some that she would remember but someone like a clone, for instance, would never have known. Where was she born? Where did the blitz occur? What captain did she serve under before taking over the Normandy? What teammate was lost on Virmire? The last question stung. Ash's death still felt fresh, only a few month's old in her mind, though it had really been years now. She must have been her real self to feel the guilt and shame welling up in her as she answered that question.

"I think you've asked her enough." Jacob stepped in. "She's still adjusting to all of this. It's clearly her."

Miranda seemed satisfied. "So, what do you want to know?"

"Did the crew from the Normandy survive the attack that killed me?" It was the most pressing question on her mind.

"Not all of them. I understand there were ten occupants in the shuttle that was intercepted by an Alliance cruiser. Your pilot, Jeff Moreau, and the ship medic, Karin Chakwas: both survived, as well as your lieutenant, Kaidan Alenko. In addition, I understand that all of the non-human crew members made it out as well. A quarian, a turian, and an asari? You could have started a new Council on your crew, commander." Miranda smiled, but there was no warmth behind it.

Shepard slumped back against her seat, relieved. At least her friends had made it out, though many of the crew had lost their lives it seemed.

"Do you know what happened to any of them?" she asked.

"We did try to build dossiers on them," Miranda shrugged. "Dr. T'soni's been busy on Illium, but doing what, it's been very hard to find out. The quarian returned to the flotilla, but we have no other information on her either. Garrus Vakarian was working with C-sec for a while, but then he left the Citadel and fell of the grid. He hasn't been seen or heard from in over a year. Kaidan Alenko's still with the Alliance as far as we're aware."

The report made Shepard tense. Tali and Kaidan were safe at least, and they knew where Liara was. But what about Garrus? What had become of him in the two years that she was dead? How had he handled her death? She had so many questions burning inside her. All she wanted was to find Garrus. She'd never felt so confused or alone, waking up after two years dead, in Cerberus custody with no one she knew or trusted around her; it felt overwhelming. Garrus would have calmed her down, talked some sense into her, helped her figure it out.

"So the whole galaxy thinks I'm dead?" she asked.

"Yes, they held a memorial service for you on the Citadel a few days after the incident. It was a very difficult time for many people. When they find out you're still alive, I imagine it will inspire a lot of hope," Miranda answered.

"What are the logistics of…? Never mind. I can't think about any of it right now."

"We've taken care of most of it. All of the documentation is sorted."

Shepard leaned her head against the cool glass window. She was exhausted, though she'd only been awake for maybe an hour. Her body was still recovering from being rebuilt from the ground up, it seemed. She closed her eyes, afraid she might die again, but too tired to dwell on it long.

Jacob shook her awake a while later, though how long she'd been asleep, she couldn't say. He helped her from the shuttle and led her inside a new facility, as sterile as the last one, but considerably less on fire. It was a Cerberus space station of some sort.

She followed Jacob and Miranda into a large room that reminded her of the lobby at the Citadel embassies. Miranda took a seat at a desk containing an extranet terminal and went to work typing.

"Just follow the steps down that way." She pointed across the room. "The Illusive Man is waiting for you."

Shepard ventured forward unsurely, still feeling a bit drowsy from her nap, and unsteady on her newly rebuilt legs. She crossed the room and made her way down the steps into a dark room with a single circular pad in the center. When she stepped onto the pad, a hologram room generated around her, with a view of a seated man's silhouette outlined against the burning sun of whatever star system it belonged to.

"Commander Shepard," the man said, taking a long drag from a cigarette. "Good to see my investment paid off."

"I was under the impression we'd be meeting face to face," she told him.

"Too risky, you'll understand. How are you feeling?"

Shepard folded her arms across her chest. "I'd say I'm feeling more than a little confused. What interest does Cerberus have in bringing me back? Why spend the money? There are plenty of skilled soldiers in the world."

"Because, commander, few know what you and I know. That humanity will soon be facing the greatest threat of its brief existence." The Illusive Man's eyes flashed in the dark, some strange cybernetic quality shining behind them.

"The Reapers," Shepard said.

"Yes. I know the sort of reputation Cerberus has, but we have the same goal here, commander. While you were dead, human colonies have been going missing. Not just a few people, entire colonies: gone. We believe it's another agent of the Reapers, just like Saren and the geth."

"Still, why me? Plenty of soldiers fought in the Battle of the Citadel."

"Yes, but you're more than just a soldier," he explained, "you're a symbol, Shepard, a beacon of hope to humanity; someone who inspires others and brings them together. Someone who took down an agent of the Reapers…and a Reaper itself. Even they can appreciate the importance of that."

"So, what then? You bring me back to life and hold that over my head as a reason to help you with…whatever it is you want me to do?" Shepard asked, still skeptical and untrusting of the entire organization, and still disoriented and overwhelmed.

"I believe we're working toward the same cause, commander," the Illusive Man said, inhaling from his cigarette once more. "Cerberus is committed to the preservation and advancement of human society. If the Reapers are trying to end humanity, we're going to put up a fight. No one can force you to work for us, but I think you'll find that Cerberus can allot far more resources to stopping the Reapers than the Council is willing to commit."

Shepard couldn't argue with that, especially if the Council thought she was dead. They'd been reticent to offer support even after an actual Reaper attacked the station; after two years of relative peace, they'd be even less likely to help. Still, working for Cerberus didn't sit well with her. If she was going to go through with this, she would have to find a balance between following their orders, and carving her own path.

"So, then what's your plan?" She asked.

"I want you to investigate one of the missing colonies. That will allow us both to test each other. We can see what you're capable of, you can see what's happening to these people, bring back any clues, and see how you work with my operatives. If you think it's a cause worth joining, we can discuss it when you return."

Shepard nodded. "Fine. A trial run."

"Exactly. I look forward to your report, Shepard."

The hologram blinked out and she was back in the dark room. Still unsure of the entire thing, but recognizing her options were limited, she scaled the steps back into the main room where Jacob and Miranda were waiting.

"Ready when you are, commander," Jacob said.

Shepard would never be ready, but at that point, she would just have to go with it and see where things took her. It seemed that even dying wasn't a good enough excuse for a break from doing what she did best.