Chapter 1: Waking up

"Shepard! Shepard get up! This facility is under attack!" A female voice shouted over the loudspeaker. Shepard groaned, and cracked open her violet eyes. Bright lights blinded her vision, and she squeezed them shut again.

"Dammit Shepard! Someone is trying to kill you!" The voice shouted again. Shepard cracked a half smile.

If I had a penny every time I've heard that… There was a loud explosion, and Shepard fell off the bed and onto the cold hard ground of the space station. Pain erupted in her side, shooting into her stomach. She gasped, and opened her eyes wide. She could see her reflection in the shiny floor, the gnarled scars that now littered her cheeks and chin. Her face looked different… Thought she couldn't quite place it. Her hair was Auburn, and most of it hung on the left side, still in the military cut as it was before.

Before… What happened before? When was before? Shepard closed her eyes, trying to think. But her mind was full of haze.

"There's a Pistol in the cabinet next to you." God that voice… Make it stop! Shepard groaned and gripped onto the table she fell off. She went to pull herself up, but struggled.

"What the hell?" She gritted through clenched teeth. Her muscles felt like they haven't been used in years…

Finally making it to her feet, she steady herself and strode towards the cabinet. Her legs wobbled for the first few steps, but soon they fell back into the same routine. She opened the locker, and in it she found her N7 armor, and a pistol. She slipped out of the uniform she was wearing, vaguely remembering the yellow emblem on the chest, and grabbed the chest plate, and hung it on her shoulders. The Armor started to hum, and then it expanded, wrapping itself around her torso and down onto her legs. She grabbed the black boots and slipped them on each foot, followed by shoulder pads and gloves. She grabbed the pistol and made her way towards the door.

"This pistol doesn't have a thermal clip." Shepard said.

"You'll have to find some- Damn! The canisters by the door are going to explode! Take cover!" Shepard looked, and sure enough two canisters hissed.

"Damn." She said as she crouched behind a small wall. They exploded, sharps of metal flying over her head. The door slid open, and a thermal clip laid next to a body.

Grabbing the ammo, Shepard slammed it into the gun and cocked it. The pistol hummed as it took in the ammo, now ready for use.

"There are security mechs in the next room, take them out!" The women warned. Shepard came around the corner, and sure enough there stood a white robot. It shot at her, and Shepard threw her hand in front of her face. A purple barrier formed just in time, and the bullet ricocheted off and into the mechs head. Yet as soon as the bullet bounced off the barrier, Shepard flew off her feet and into the wall behind her. The purple barrier hummed and then dissipated, and Shepard coughed as she climbed to her feet.

"What the hell was that?!" Shepard shouted.

"Those were the handy work of the Genesis 12 Biotic amps."

"Genesis what?" Shepard cracked her back, and shook her head before she continued her way.

"A biotic amp that doesn't even exist yet." The women said pride evident in her voice.

"Is 'got one hell of a kick that's for sure…" Shepard walked through a few doorways, and into a room. Two mechs were crawling on the ground, towards what Shepard didn't know, or care. Easily she shot two rounds into each and then examined the room. A journal sat on a desk, a video recording waiting to be played. Shepard tapped the button, and the same voice from the loudspeaker came from the computer.
"Project Lazarus is going better than expected; Subject is showing nervous system response as well as Muscle contraction. The Neural patterns in her brain are normal, her heart is strong as well as her lungs. All she needs now is to heal. 3 years of this… And finally it's paid off."

"3 years… of what?" Shepard asked out loud.

"I will explain everything to you, but first you have to get to the shuttles." Pushing curiosity aside, Shepard pushed on.

She exited the room, and opened the next door to find a live firefight with a man hiding behind cover. Shepard pulled her pistol from her hip, and ran next to him.

"Holy shit Shepard! What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Not really sure… Who are you?"

"Names Jacob, I could some help with these guys. We're low on clips, but I'm a biotic."
"Nice to know, so am I." Shepard grinned as she shot out of cover and threw her hand upwards. 3 mechs were tossed upwards like springs, and then fell over the edge of the railing.

"I'm liking these new implants…" Shepard whispered before she took cover again.

"Look, since I woke up someone has been telling me what to do, and where to go. I need Answers!" Shepard shouted over the noise. Jacob popped out of cover, and jerked his arm towards his body. A mech flew off its feet, and came hovering towards him before falling into the gap. He came back into cover and spoke

"Help me with these mechs, and I'll play 20 questions with you all day." Shepard smirked. She had always been a powerful biotic, an Adept with great strength. But now? With the new amps, she felt unstoppable. Shepard peeked over the railing, and spotted two mechs in the corner. A door off to the side opened, and 3 more came in. They all were shooting blindly, but still on target. There was a pause in gunfire, and Shepard shot out of cover.

She extended her hand, feeling the biotic energy latching on to an unsuspecting mech, feelings its weight. She tossed it into another, and they went tumbling to the ground before exploding. She tossed a singularity towards the other three and turned her back as they were lifted, and sucked into oblivion.

"So, answer my questions now?"
"Damn… Hold up to your legend that's for sure. As I promised, what do you want to know?"
"What the hell is going on?" Jacob stared at her for a moment, and then sighed.

"Shepard, you've been dead for 3 years. You were spaced when the Normandy SR1 was attacked by an unknown vessel. All crewmembers made it out, except you. The Alliance declared you killed in Action, but we went looking for you anyways. With the best medical equipment money can buy, Miranda and her team rebuilt you and brought you back to life. Do you remember any of it?..." Jacob asked. Shepards mouth hung open, shock written on her face.

She was dead? For three god-damn years? She tried to think back, to the time before she woke up.

Yet the last thing she remembered was having breakfast with Kaidan… and Garrus wanting to speak to her about something. Her mind drew a blank, and she shook her head

"No… I… I don't remember any of it."

"Hello!? Is there anybody there?!" A voice came over the Comm. in Jacob's ear. He tapped on his Omni-tool, and patched Shepard in.

"Wilson! This is Jacob, where are you?"

"Server room B! They're everywhere! I need help."

"Stay right there, Shepard and-"

"Shepard's alive? How the hell… Never mind that! Hurry up! Their coming!" Jacob started to run down a hallway, and Shepard followed. They ran up a set of stairs, and walked into find a bald man leaning against some crates. Blood pooled around his leg, and he grimaced as Jacob touched it.

There were a rush of pictures, and sounds. Voices and the feeling of cool air.

"There on the monitor. What's that say?" a female voice said. A blurry image of a women dressed in white and black walked past Shepard.

"She's reacting to outside Stimuli. Aware of her surroundings." Wilson… it was Wilsons voice.

"Run the numbers again! She isn't ready for this yet!"

"Heart rate accelerating, blood pressure climbing, she'll go into cardiac arrest!"

"Give her a sedative! Now!" Breath came in short quick pants, Shepard lifted her arm, it felt… light. Like it wasn't even there. A women appeared in her face, ice blue eyes, beautiful dark hair and perfectly carved features. She touched Shepards arm, but she didn't feel it.

"Don't move Sheppard, try to stay calm." She said.

"Give her another dose!" She turned to the other person. There was a hiss, and suddenly everything stopped. Shepard's ears felt plugged, her hearing almost gone. She tried to focus on what they were saying, she was obviously mad, but Shepard let her eyes slide shut. And the abyss took her in again…

"You! You were there when I first regain consciousness!" Shepard exclaimed.

"Yeah… that was me-Agh!- can we talk about this after we fix my leg?"

"There's Medi-gel on the wall, grab it for me." Jacob said. Shepard walked over to the first-aid kit on the wall, and grabbed a silver tin. She ran back over to Jacob, and he popped the tin opened and scooped out the clear gel. Gently, he started to rub in onto Wilson's leg. In an instant, the skin pulled back together and Wilson was fine.

"We need to hurry, the shuttles are just through those doors." Wilson said as he started to hobble away from them.

"Wait a minute, why are you here in security? You were in the Bio wing?" Wilson paused.

"I was trying to stop the mechs, see if I could fix this."

"How do you even have clearance?"

"Weren't you listening? I was trying to stop this!" Shepard narrowed her eyes at the doctor. Jacob glanced back at her, the same look in his eye.

"Doesn't matter, those mechs are shooting at all of us. Let's just get going." Shepard said. Just as she started to move, Jacob stopped her.

"Wait, this is getting tense. Shepard, if I tell you who we work for, will you trust us?"

"This really isn't the time Jacob." Wilson said.

"we'll get nowhere if she's expecting a shot in the back."

"It's your ass then dude." Shepard turned to look Jacob in the eye

"The program that rebuilt you, it was Funded by Cerberus." Shepards eyes widened

"Are you serious…" Shepard groaned.

"The Alliance declared you dead! Cerberus spend billions bringing you back, I had to tell you. The Illusive man will explain everything, once we get out of here." Jacob said. Shepard rolled her eyes, and pushed on.

"Ah, Shepard. Good to see you."
"Illusive man." Shepard said curtly as she stepped into the hologram.

"I thought we'd be meeting face to face."

"A necessary precaution."

"What do you want?"

"Human colonies have gone missing in the terminus system, one day they're there, the next they are gone. Complete radio silence, and everything look fine except every man women and child is gone. The Alliance is doing nothing about it, to concerned with politics to even notice. I need you to help humanity, our people are gone. Thousands and thousands of people." Straight to the point then…

"Alright. I'll help." This seemed to surprise the Illusive man.

"Miranda was sure you would be reluctant… she's usually never wrong." Sheppard rolled her eyes, Miranda… Perfect little bitch is what she is. She seemed fine, blasting Wilson's head off was cool, but when they made it to the space station, Shepard went to speak to Miranda, thanking her for everything she's done. But instead? Miranda said she didn't need a friend, and to keep your eye on the prize… Unbelievable.

"I am reluctant, but you gave me my life back. And, these missing colonies may have something to do with the reapers. I'm willing to check it out."

"There was a colony that was recently hit, take Miranda and Jacob with you to go check it out. Hopefully, you'll find some solid evidence." Shepard walked out of the hologram room, and up the stairs to find Jacob and Miranda waiting by the doors, ready to go.

Without another word, they boarded the shuttle and made their way to the planet's surface.

"This is your operation Shepard, how do you want it handled?" Miranda asked.

"Gather evidence, search for survivors. Maybe someone made it this time…"

A/N: First chapter... I think it came together nicely. I'm going through a Mass effect phase, Funny I know. Anyways, review please! the more reviews I get the faster I update:) enjoy.