Jane found herself in a dark forest. The same one she saw when she dreamt of Ashley. She looked around, confused.
"I don't get it. Aren't I dead?" She asked herself.
"Well, yes and no." She heard a voice she hadn't heard in a long time.
"Daddy?!" She turned around in surprise, to see her parents standing behind her. She ran to hug them. "I'm so happy to see you guys! I'm so sorry I was too much of a coward to-"
"Shush, Janey. You were just a kid, there was nothing you could do." He assured her.
"We are so proud of what you've done with your life. We knew we were giving our lives for you and we don't regret it." Her mother told her.
"Am I dreaming?" She asked them with tears in her eyes.
"Who can say?" Her father smiled.
Before she could say anything else, her parents and the forest had disappeared and all she could see were bright lights and the faces of a man and a woman above her. She could hear them talking but couldn't make out what they were saying and she couldn't say anything. After a moment, everything went dark again.
She woke up to alarms blaring and pain throughout her body. As she tried to get her thoughts together and figure out where she was, she heard a voice speaking to her on the intercom.
"Shepard? You need to get moving. We weren't able to finish healing your scars but we don't have time to worry about that now. This facility is under attack."
Jane put her hand to her face and felt the scars the woman must've been talking about.
"Who are you? What's going on?" She asked the voice, confused.
"I'm Miranda and we just brought you back from the dead but there's no more time for explanations. Grab the gear from the storage chest in the room and make your way to the shuttle bay." She heard her say.
Jane changed into the armor. It was her N7 gear but it was like new. She grabbed the pistol and realized it was empty.
"There's no thermal clips in this gun!" She explained into her comm.
"You'll have to find some- dammit!" She heard Miranda say followed by gunfire.
"Hello? What's going on?" She tried asking but there was no answer. "Guess I have to figure out the rest by myself."
She went forward trying to find her way to the shuttle bay. She entered a room when she was fired on by a humanoid mech. She dodged behind a desk to avoid being hit.
"Shit. This is just perfect." She said to herself. "Not even back from the dead for two minutes before things are trying to kill me." Just then she saw a thermal clip behind a desk a few feet from her. She hit the mech with her overload then ran to the other desk.
"Well, hello there friend." She said as she loaded the clip into her pistol. She then popped two shots into the mech's head. She made way her way forward, although she didn't exactly know where she was going. She eventually ran into a young man under fire by several mechs.
"Shit. They actually managed to bring you back, Shepard." He addressed her when he noticed her.
"Who are you? Where are we?" She asked him as she ducked down beside him.
"We don't exactly have time for 20 questions right now. Help me with these guys and I'll answer any questions you have." He addressed her as he used a biotic pull that made the mechs float in midair. Jane took the opportunity to take each one out.
"Well, I see being dead didn't affect your aim." He said.
"It'll take more than something small like dying to do that." She chuckled.
"Well, that takes care of them. I promised to answer your questions."
"First, how am I alive? I suffocated in space." She asked him.
"Well, that's thanks to Project Lazarus. A lot of credits were put into bringing you back."
"But why? How many other test subjects are there? And where is my team?" She asked. She couldn't understand what was so special about her to bring her back from the dead.
"You'd have to ask Miranda Lawson. She's the one in charge of Project Lazarus. And there were no others. The whole point of the project was to bring you back. And as for your crew, a few were killed with the Normandy. Some deck crew members but almost everyone made it to safety. But it's been two years, everyone has moved on by now." He told her.
"Two years? I was dead for that long?" She asked. She was in shock. She couldn't believe she was gone for two years. "Wait, someone named Miranda was talking to me when I woke up."
"Do you know where she is?" He asked.
"No. We got interrupted. I heard gunfire then everything went to static."
"Well, we better get going. She's pretty capable and she'll make her way to the shuttle to meet us, if she's able." Just then he spoke into his comm, addressing someone called Dr. Wilson. He said the doctor seemed surprised she was awake and alive and that he gave them directions to get to him. Jacob then told her to follow him.
She followed along as they fought mechs as they popped up. They eventually met up with Dr. Wilson, who seemed to have an injured leg. Jane saw a medigel container on the wall and grabbed it to heal his leg. She then pointed out that she recognized him from when she temporarily gained consciousness, he said he was working under Miranda to bring her back. They then agreed to head toward the shuttles when more mechs came into their view. Jane quickly used her overload on some explosive crates to take them out.
"Before we go further, I think you should know who owns this facility and funded the Lazarus Project, Shepard. I doubt you'll like what you hear." Jacob spoke up.
"Are you crazy?" Wilson spoke up.
"She's not gonna trust us if she's expecting us to shoot her in the back." He said. "This is a Cerberus facility."
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Jane jumped back. She couldn't believe what she heard. "The same Cerberus responsible for those horrid thresher maw attacks and numerous Alliance deaths? They killed a fucking admiral!" She tightly held her gun in her shaking hands, ready to fire at the slightest sense of danger. She was so angry, she could feel her eyes welling up with tears.
"I heard about all that and from what I understand, those were rogue cells and word is you took care of them." Jacob tried to calm her down. She didn't answer him, she just stood there in shocked silence. She couldn't believe Cerberus was responsible for bringing her back.
"We still need to get to those shuttles and get you out of here in one piece. Look, I know you don't trust Cerberus but why would they bring you back just to kill you now?" Jacob spoke up after a moment.
"Fine. But I'm keeping my eye on you." Jane said then reluctantly followed them. They finally made their way to the shuttle bay but when the doors opened, a woman with black hair shot Wilson dead. Jacob referred to her as Miranda. Jane instinctively held her gun up at her and demanded to know why she shot him. She explained he was the traitor and tried to kill her. Jane tried arguing that she didn't need to kill him but Miranda just said she couldn't risk anything happening to her and convinced her it was time to go.
Jane had just got done discussing what happened on Freedom's Progress with the Illusive Man. She couldn't believe that Collectors were kidnapping humans and doing God knows what with them. It was also disturbing to think that they were working with the reapers. She still had doubts about working with Cerberus. She still hated them for what happened with her squad and the admiral but she knew she needed their resources to stop the Collectors, so she had decided she'd stay and use them until her mission was over. She still wished that Tali would have come with her but she understood that she had her own mission to get done.
"She's grown so much. But I guess 2 years will do that to someone." Jane said to herself as she walked in the facility. The Illusive Man had said he found a pilot she could work with, though she was sure it was just going to be another Cerberus lackey. Just then she saw someone walking towards her. As she squinted her eyes to get a better look, they came into view and she saw a familiar face as she recognized the person waddling towards her.
"Joker?!" She yelled in surprise as she ran and hugged him.
"Shepard! Careful. You're gonna break my bones." He laughed as he hugged her back.
"I can't believe you're here. Wait, what are you doing here?"
"I'm your pilot, of course. The best deserves the best, right?" He said with a cocksure smile.
"But this is Cerberus. What about the Alliance?"
"Things just weren't the same after you… after you were gone." He said, solemnly. "After the attack, the council wrote Sovereign up as a single attacker and denounced everything you said about the reapers. Then Cerberus seeked me out. I almost didn't believe it when they said they were bringing you back but I had to come see for myself. Oh, and I didn't come alone." He let out a whistle and they heard something running towards them. Before Jane knew it, she had been knocked down by a varren.
"Huh?! Is that you, Carnifex?!" She smiled in joy when he licked her face in excitement.
"Wrex made sure to grab him and take him to his escape pod in all the chaos. He knew you'd be heartbroken without him. I offered to take him afterward. Didn't want anything to happen to your favorite varren pup." Joker said as Jane slowly got back up.
"He's so big but I guess it really has been 2 years." She said while petting him. Just then they saw a ship come into view in the windows. "Whoa! That looks almost like the Normandy!" She spoke up, wide eyed.
"They styled it after the Normandy. And I've already got the perfect name for this beauty. Normandy SR-2." Joker spoke up, smiling.
"Sounds perfect. Well, let's get going. We're off to Omega to look for this Archangel." Jane put her hand on Joker's shoulder before heading to the docking bay.
They had just landed on Omega, when a Batarian approached Jane's group and told them to go see someone name Aria as soon as possible. Upon asking why, he just told her that it was best for her if she did and she wouldn't want to anger Aria. After agreeing, he left without another word. Just then, she saw an older looking man with scars on his face beating up a Batarian. She looked at her data pad before approaching him. She asked if he was Zaeed Massani and he told her he was and that his fee was already paid by the Illusive Man. He told her he could join as soon as he got his bounty taken care of. She waited for him to get finished before taking him and Miranda with to meet Aria.
Jane was leaving the VIP area of Afterlife after meeting Aria T'Loak and getting information on Archangel and the scientist, Mordin Solus. Well, she was quite the character. Jane thought as she thought about their conversation. She decided she wanted to look for this Archangel first and they decided they'd pretend to be freelance mercenaries in order to get close enough to get to him. She couldn't believe he got three different gangs to get together just to kill him. She knew he was the kind of person they needed. They bluffed their way into the ranks and made their way to talk to a Cathka, who they were told would give them their orders. Along the way, Jane sabotaged the mechs by hacking into them and removing the program that distinguished ally from enemy. A short distance from their destination, Jane got hit by a single sniper shot that momentarily lowered her shields but didn't damage her.
"Ouch. What the-? Was that that Archangel guy that shot me?" Jane exclaimed, rubbing her left arm. Seriously, why is it always this damn arm? She thought.
"If it was, he was either doing a warning shot for some goddamn reason or these mercs can't fight for shit and they all fucking need to learn to fight." Zaeed answered her.
They finally got to Cathka who basically told them they were going to be fodder while the actual gang members would surround Archangel. A group of men suddenly came up saying the signal had been sent. He ordered them all to take their positions before he returned to fixing the gunship he was working on.
"Sorry pal, but I need this guy alive." Jane said once they were alone before killing him with an electric rod to the back. She wasn't proud of it but she needed Archangel to save colonies.
Upon reaching the other mercs, Jane's group shot them down quickly before reaching Archangel's location.
When they reached him, Jane spoke up and asked if he was Archangel. He shot down a merc with his sniper before turning around. He put his leg on a stool before he took off helmet and calling out her last name and saying he thought she was dead. Jane couldn't believe her eyes. Under the helmet was Garrus Vakarian. She smiled and yelled his name out in surprise and before she knew it, she had instinctively hugged him.
"What are you doing here?" She asked as she stepped away.
"Well, after you- I mean, things were even worse at C-Sec when I went back. I got tired of all the bullshit and I wanted to go somewhere to make a difference. Heh, even had my own team kind of like you did to take down Saren. And this place never runs out of bad guys to shoot." He replied.
"Yeah. You got me a couple times." Jane said as she rubbed her arm again.
"Concussive shots only. Nothing serious. Didn't want the mercs to get suspicious."
"Uh huh. How'd you manage to piss off every major gang leader enough to work together to take you down?"
"It wasn't easy." Garrus smirked.
"I'll bet but how do we get out of here?" Jane asked him.
"Well, if we try to take the bridge, they'll just shoot us down. We'll have to lower their numbers before attempting to leave." He replied. Then when they heard more mercs inbound, he asked her if she was ready. She replied with a comment about spilling merc blood before setting up with her sniper right next to him. He chuckled about it being just like old times before they started shooting down enemies. Yeah, old times. Jane thought to herself with a smile. She felt so much joy in fighting along his side again. Garrus told her they needed to shut the shutters before they were overwhelmed. After he gave her instructions on how to get to them, she said she was going to take Zaeed with her and leave Miranda with him. She wasn't going to risk anything happening to him after being reunited when she wasn't even sure if he was still alive until she saw him.
She and Zaeed made short work of the mercs and got the shutters closed with little resistance. They hurried up and made their way back to Garrus and Miranda. Just then they saw Bloodpack mercs surrounding the rendezvous point.
"Fuck! You gotta be kidding me!" Jane yelled as she took out her pistol and shot down mercs as she ran towards Garrus. When she got to his location, she saw him cornered by the blood pack leader and noticed he was about to strike Garrus down. She pulled a long knife out of her belt and launched herself toward the Krogan. She aimed for the back of his neck under his armor with all of her strength. After he fell down, she shot him twice in the head and said she just wanted to be sure he was dead. After she caught her breath, she asked Garrus if he was okay. After he confirmed he was, she informed him they just had the blue suns left. Just then they heard a rumbling sound and bullets spraying at them. They all ducked in separate directions to find cover when they saw Tarak in his gunship. Jane yelled out it wasn't all the way fixed. A moment later, Jane saw a blast in the area as the gunship fired a rocket at them. Once the smoke cleared, Jane saw Garrus bleeding motionless on the ground.
"Garrus!?" She yelled in horror and tried to make her way towards him but had to duck back into cover when the ship kept firing on her.
"You fucking bastard!" She screamed with tears in her eyes as she threw everything she had at the ship until it exploded.
She immediately ran to Garrus to try and read a pulse on him. Just then he gasped and opened his eyes.
"Garrus! Hang on, I'm going to get you help!" She removed her hand from his wound and put it up to her face to get Joker on the comm. "Joker! We need an immediate pick up! It's an emergency!" She cried out.
"He's not going to make it, Shepard." Miranda spoke up.
"Shut up! He has to. Where is that fucking transport?!" She yelled as tears just started soaking her face." She moved her hair out of her face then put her hands back on his wounds in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "Garrus? Can you hear me? Just hang on please. You can't leave me. Not again. Not like this!" She cried as she ripped a piece of fabric off her pants to cover the wound on his face.
"Ah, Hell. Tell your goddamn pilot to hurry the fuck up!" Zaeed yelled out.
"There's the shuttle." Miranda yelled out.
"Finally!" Jane spoke up as she attempted to lift him. She was having trouble but Zaeed went to help her and they carried him to the shuttle and rushed back to the Normandy to get him to the medbay.
They wouldn't let Jane in while they were doing surgery to save Garrus. So she was in her cabin, just waiting. She looked in the mirror and saw his blue blood on her face.
"Please be okay, Garrus. You have to. I just found you again." She said as she wiped the blood off her face. Just then, Jacob called her to the meeting room to talk about Garrus's condition. She sighed before steeling herself for whatever news there was and went to go meet him.
