A/N: Before y'all read any further, this is going to be AU. Very, very, very AU. For one (obviously) Ashley and Kaidan both survive Virmire (because I said so :P) because it's the whole basis for this fic. This is going to get more and more AU as it goes on, and will span both ME2 and ME3, and maybe post-war if I'm feeling nice when we get there. ;)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Mass Effect or any of the characters within, not unless they've been explicitly stated as OCs of my own creation.

Thanks for reading guys, and I hope you enjoy!

Mission Report, I.E. "Project Lazarus"

Sender: Lawson, M.

Recipient: ERROR [Data Not Found]

Summary: Remarkable Progress

Subject One: Gunnery Chief Ashley M. Williams, Systems Alliance. Current Posting: N/A. Birth date — 14.04.2158

-Teams discovered body beneath rubble of science lab, moved to basement and extracted

-Clear evidence of the resulting nuclear explosion (radiation suits required for retrieval)

-Subject showed advanced signs of radiation poisoning and burns not classifiable by the usual scale

-Brain surprisingly intact and organs capable of basic, simulated functions such as digestion of soft foods

Current Status: Ready for activation and minor motor activities, highly recommend control chip at base of skull and possible "pass-coding" for later use, if necessary. Reports indicate a hot-tempered, insubordinate with surprisingly high scores in files, with hints towards xenophobia and general mistrust. Strongly recommended for neural wiping, but retaining to make second subject more compliant.

Subject Two: Lieutenant-Commander Kyler A. Shepard, Systems Alliance and Council Spectre. Current Posting: N/A. Birth date — 11.04.2154

-Body recovered from Liara T'soni

-Little to say on the body's condition at retrieval; in the condition of anything to fall through an atmosphere

-N7 suit, mainly helmet, responsible for possible reconstruction capabilities, as brain is almost fully functional

-Cybernetics required for complete reconstruction

Current Status: Reconstruction nearly complete, but subject is not ready to be awakened. Control chip still recommended, can be added as soon as possible if desired. Data suggests subject is a patient, traditionalist sort of man, with beyond exceptional scores in Alliance records (completed N6 training to advance to rank of N7) and is a Spectre. Neural wiping not required, but permission is requested to make subject more receptive to organization.

"Down the hall, to your left!"

His feet carried him as fast as humanly possible, running and weaving through a building that was eerily familiar, and yet alien to his eyes. The last thing he remembered was watching his ship get destroyed, but there he was, running through a facility that was apparently dedicated to bringing him and another subject back to life. Whomever the woman over the intercom was, she seemed to be desperate to save them both.

"There!" He skidded to a halt, dropping into a defensive crouch. "I can open the door from here, Commander, but please be cautious. Subject one is...in a far more delicate state than yourself."

"Whatever that means," he grumbled to himself, shoulder braced against the wall. In his hand, Shepard heard the all-too familiar click of a thermal clip snapping into place, and felt the familiar thrum of the handgun rapidly heating up and cooling down.

As soon as the doors hissed open, he leapt to his feet, holding his weapon out ahead of him as he was trained to do. Instantly, the Commander was greeted by more gunfire and mechanical voices muttering things about "acquired target" and "hostiles detected."

Shepard dove behind a research table, and not a moment too soon. Overhead, beakers and test tubes were shattered by flying bullets. When the gunfire paused, he stood, sighted, and pulled the trigger of his pistol. A mech's head exploded in a shower of sparks, but before he could get off another shot, bullets began flying again, and he ducked back down.

Somewhere in the room, there was a faint sound of electronic beeping and whirring, and the common sound of pressurized doors opening. He took a few breaths, simply listening as the mechs turned their weapons on the source of the noise, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of someone in a Cerberus uniform sneaking up to him. That someone was clearly a woman, had no shot in hell of being anything other than a human, and currently had her rifle leveled at his chest.

Crack. The muzzle flashed as she pulled the trigger, shot a mech he didn't even know was behind him until he heard it hit the floor.

Unfortunately for him, or them, her shot drew the mechs' attention back to the front of the room, and the bullets bombarded them now with renewed vigor. The Cerberus agent was on her feet the same instant, pelting the machines with bullets of her own.

After coming to his senses, Shepard popped out of cover and dropped two of the five remaining mechs, straightening once they were all dead. Beside him, the Cerberus agent was now aiming her gun directly at him, and without hesitation, he turned on her as well. For several, agonizingly long minutes, all they did was stare at each other. He waited for the voice on the intercom to tell him who, exactly, he was looking for, and who he was preparing himself to shoot, but nothing was said.

Slowly, carefully, he released his two-handed grip on the sidearm and placed it at his hip, holding his hands up in what he hoped was a placating gesture. "We need to get off this station."

That seemed to work; the woman relaxed almost as soon as the words left his mouth. "Follow me."

Shepard made a motion with his hands in acceptance, and the Cerberus woman headed for the door. For a while, they simply jogged in silence, him following and her leading. Wherever she was going, she seemed to have a better understanding than he did, and while he wanted to stop to check for survivors, she merely kept going, ignoring his protests. Shepard's previous guide came over the intercom one last time to tell them to get to the shuttles in the docking bay, but the message was full of static and broken up so poorly he barely made it out.

"Wait," he snapped, grabbing her shoulder.

He was greeted with a sharp crack off his own shoulder, coming from the butt of her rifle connecting with his suit. He yanked his arm back, scowling. "We keep moving."

"It sounded like the mechs—"

She cut him off. "Lawson can take care of herself." Even through that blackened visor, Shepard could feel the glare he was getting. "We keep moving," she repeated.

Shepard sighed and shook his head. "After you, then."

The woman turned on her heel and continued leading him through the facility, which he was now assuming belonged to Cerberus, the fanatical pro-human organization that every Alliance soldier was trained to despise. They were little more than terrorists, terrorists that claimed to support human rights among the galaxy's other inhabitants, but simply used that as an excuse to murder innocents, alien and human. Shepard, like every Alliance soldier, hated Cerberus with a passion, and regarded anyone who joined as a weak, spineless coward. He'd foiled plenty of their plots while hunting down Saren, so why was he here now? What did Cerberus want from him?

Briefly, he considered shooting himself before they could get whatever it was they revived him for. Better to die loyal than to die a traitor, right?

Instead, he just followed the soldier ahead of him. He could say anything he wanted about Cerberus, but they trained their men. All the operatives he'd fought knew what they were doing, just as his new "friend" clearly was. Many Cerberus agents had been past Alliance soldiers, and in turn, those men trained the people who joined out of simple xenophobia. It was rather effective for them.

"The docking bay is just through those doors."

Shepard stopped running to join her, frowning slightly as she pulled her rifle off her back. "You expecting trouble?"

"Yes. Someone had to activate the mechs."

"And let me guess, you know who did it?"

"Yes."

"How do you know that?"

"I was assigned to monitor the staff and crew of the station." Another straightforward, simple answer, in a very monotonous voice coming out of what sounded like a radio. Her helmet was probably designed to conceal her identity, not just to protect her head. "Had I not been instructed to return to my room, the man responsible would be dead and we would already be off this station."

"You were instructed to go back? Why didn't you just kill him?"

"Operative Lawson requested I return to escort you to the docking bay."

"No, she told me to go find you." The woman stared at him, unmoving, and he sighed again. "You are subject one, right? The first body that was recovered for reconstruction?"

"Yes."

"Do you know why Cerberus is doing this?"

"Yes."

"Will you tell me?"

"No."

He groaned. "Why—"

"We need to evacuate."

Before Shepard could reply, she was hitting the lock for the door. As soon as it opened, the sound of gunfire reached the Commander's ears, but it wasn't from them. Someone else was shooting at the mechs, and the mechs were shooting at them.

Shepard drew his gun, but before he could even get through the door, his company was already hopping the railing beside the stairs, and running up the platform. By the time he managed to join them, he could hear her assault rifle going off, along with the sounds of handguns firing, and shouting. He only got to drop a single mech, but when he did, her gun turned on the two men standing by the doors on the far end of the platform. They both aimed their handguns at her, but one of the two men seemed somewhat reluctant about it. Needless to say, Shepard wasn't exactly sure who was friend or foe, but the woman had helped get him this far, and the two men staring her down were blocking their only escape route. At this point, she was probably the person he could trust the most...but that didn't mean he necessarily trusted her enough to turn his back on her.

"Drop the gun!" The nervous one, darker skinned and closely cropped hair.

Even from where he was standing, he could tell she wasn't listening to any of them. "Orders?" There was a pause. For a single second, Shepard was sure he'd be able to hear a pin drop. Then something in her changed. Maybe a small little shift of her rifle, or of her feet, but whatever it was, Shepard recognized that little tick.

There was a strange sense of finality when she pulled the trigger. The first to fall was the balding man on the left, but when she turned on the man to the right, there was some clear hesitation. He didn't fire on her, and she didn't fire on him, but before either of them had a chance to act, the doors to the shuttle opened. Shepard, half expecting more mechs, turned his gun on the noise, as did the others.

As it turned out, it was only yet another Cerberus agent, their logo stamped onto her... Shepard blinked, cleared his throat. She was a little skinny, wasn't she?

"Miranda?" The guy.

"Wilson's taken care of?" The new woman, ignoring the man.

Shepard knew that voice; it belonged to the woman who had gotten him out of his room, and helped get him halfway across the station for the helmeted nutcase on his left.

"Yes, ma'am."

Her eyes flicked to Shepard briefly, and she seemed to decide something right then and there, nodding to herself. "Then let's get off this station."

Guns were holstered all around, including his own, but he still didn't budge. "I'm not going anywhere with any of you until I know what's going on."

The dark-haired woman sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose. "We don't have time for this, Commander. The—"

"I'm not going anywhere with Cerberus," he snarled. "Not unless I get answers, and if you don't want to answer my questions, then I'll just stay here."

"We'll be able to answer any questions you might have on the shuttle," she said.

"I'm not getting on that damn thing."

Another sigh. "If we go through proper introductions first, will that satisfy you?" He didn't like the way she said "proper introductions," but he nodded anyway. "Fine. I'm Miranda Lawson, head of the Lazarus Project, and that's Jacob Taylor, ex-Alliance."

"Getting too friendly with the aliens for your comfort?" Shepard asked the indicated man, a hint of sarcasm entering his voice.

"No. Too much sitting on your ass and not enough acting."

He blinked. That hadn't been the answer he was expecting, but it was a damn good one, one he could even agree with. He nodded, eyes shifting ever so slightly to the last of the three Cerberus agents. "And you?"

"Project details will be saved for the shuttle," Miranda said.

"That's a project detail?"

"While more work went into rebuilding you, Commander, Cerberus has more money invested in the original subject for...obvious reasons."

He snorted, eyes flicking between the two of them. "Yeah, sounds like you cut out the human part of being human." The look he got in response was priceless, but he started for the shuttle without another word.

"The Illusive Man has given me orders," the woman said, swaying slightly. Her hand was hovering near the sidearm she never pulled, and Jacob was giving her a dangerous look. "Wilson wasn't working alone."

Miranda took one look at the two of them, then pulled her own gun, and it was quickly aimed at the third party member. Jacob's gun was drawn at the same instant. Quickly enough, the three of them were pointing guns at each other, and Shepard just wanted to leave them here, take the shuttle, and get back to Alliance space.

"For fucks sake!" he exclaimed. "Can we just get out of here already?"

"He has a right to know, Miranda."

"Jacob!" she snapped. There was a threatening edge to her voice, coating her words so thickly it was impossible to miss. "Save it for later!"

"No," Shepard interrupted.

"The shuttle," Miranda hissed, giving them both a dark look. "I'll explain everything on the shuttle." Shepard narrowed his eyes, but made another helpless motion with his hands, and simply started for the shuttle again, leaving the three of them to sort out their issues on their own. Whatever happened, it wasn't going to be because of him. If someone got shot, he wouldn't care. They were Cerberus, and Cerberus, whomever they were, ex-Alliance or not, deserved to die.

He'd gladly kill the three of them if it meant he could get off this station any faster.