fainmaca wrote...
Also, while I'm here I'd like to post this, given the discussion of Jack ending up back on Cerberus' operating tables and becoming a pawn. i posted this on the internet on the 9th of January, 2011, so that makes it over a year old. But still, almost called it! I must be some kind of future psychic....
After pausing for a minute to gather their strength, the team stood up straight, looking about the lab.
"Well, Commander? What next?" Kaidan asked expectantly.
"We go after the Professor. She's the cornerstone of this facility. If we let her get away, she could start up again." Shepard said.
"Let the Alliance catch her. We've taken enough of a beating today." Jacob said wearily.
"No. We can't risk her getting away. She's here, today. Tomorrow, she could vanish into the Terminus systems, or go to ground in the Citadel slums. I'm not going to let that happen." Shepard said firmly. Jacob, too well trained to show any sign of reluctance, saluted.
The four teammates moved through the doorway they found underneath the screen that Vanessa had used to talk to them, stepping into a narrow corridor. They followed the twisting passages until they stepped out into a smaller lab than the one they had just left. Against the far wall, Vanessa Roinestad manipulated the controls at a terminal. In the centre of the room sat an operating table. Above the table hung a complex machine, a multitude of robotic arms descending from it to work on the patient laid out on the table below. The flesh on the patient's back had been cut open down the middle and pulled back to reveal the vertebrae of the spine, gleaming redly in the artificial light of the lab. Delicate arms worked to install various pieces of machinery which connected directly to the spinal cord, implants and capacitors like the ones that Shepard had seen in Vanessa's demonstration earlier that day. As the squad barged in, the robotic arms pulled the flesh back over the exposed bones, one arm stitching the wound closed.
Shepard staggered in shock when he saw the tattooed flesh underneath the Professor's monstrous machine. He could hardly breathe as the device finished its grisly work and moved up and away from the table, allowing the light to shine more clearly across the large omega symbol that dominated the shoulder blades.
Jack stirred on the operating table, awakening as if from a deep sleep rather than being summoned awake by the new signals flooding into her brain. As she struggled to sit up, the Professor laughed an ugly laugh.
"I believe you have met Subject Zero before, Commander. I'm sure you have plenty of catching up to do."
Jack staggered upright, stepping away from the table towards Shepard. As her brown eyes opened and focused on Shepard, a ghost of a smile tugged at her lips before being replaced by a harder expression. Pain filled her face as Vanessa dialled a few commands on her omnitool. As Jack stumbled, the professor moved to a door in the far wall and vanished.
"Shepard! Run!" Jack managed to cry out before screeching as wave after wave of pain flooded through her head.
"You guys go after the Professor. I'll deal with Jack!" Shepard ordered. As Jacob, Kaidan and Legion ran off in pursuit of the Cerberus scientist, he placed his rifle back on its magnetic plate on his back.
"Jack, stay still. I don't know what Roinestad managed to implant in you, but I'm going to do my best to get it out again."
"No, Shepard, you've really gotta run!" Jack whimpered, clutching her shaved head with both hands.
"Why?" he asked, trying to take a step closer. He jumped back when she took a backhanded swipe at him.
"'Cause I'm gonna kill you!" She nearly sobbed.
"How does that make this different from most other days you've known me?"
"Damnit, Commander! This is no time for you to **** around!" Tears streamed down her face as she turned her deep brown eyes to regard the Commander. "I can hear them, up here. They're pushing, and pushing. I can't shut it out." The words came in gasps, interspersed by tear-soaked sobs. "I'm fighting them, but it hurts so much. I just want to let go, let them take over. Please… I don't wanna hurt you, but I'm gonna if you don't get out of… here… right… ****ing… NOW!"
Shepard stood still, torn apart at seeing the woman he cared for so much being put through such torment. He took another step towards her, was about to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, when her posture changed completely. He shoulders stopped shaking from her sobs and she straightened. Biotic witchfire flickered along her arms as she launched herself at Shepard, bulling into him and lifting him up by the throat, pinning him to the wall.
As her hand tightened around his throat, he looked down into her hazel eyes, seeing the tears pour from their corners as she stared right back. Had she been anyone else, he would have fought back, done something to defend himself. But he was paralysed by his feelings. He tensed as she drew her free hand back to make the killing blow, eyes full of sorrow at what she was about to be forced to do.
There was a sudden, solid thump, and Jack's eyes rolled back in her head as she slumped to the deck, releasing her grip on Shepard's throat and letting him drop to the deck. Behind her, Kaidan returned his rifle to its place on his back, nodding to Shepard.
"Let me guess- you had it covered." He said casually. After a moment's silence, he felt compelled to speak again. "Jacob and Legion have the Professor. They're taking her to Anderson. He'll make sure she spends a whole lot of time in an Alliance prison."
Shepard knelt down next to Jack's inert form, quietly stroking her shaved head. He looked back up at his old friend, a mixture of emotions holding his tongue for a moment.
"Thank you, Kaidan. Can you help me get her back to the shuttle?"
Kaidan looked like he was about to object, but thought better of it. Instead, he nodded and went to find something to use as a stretcher.
Hey Fainmaca, I remember reading this part -- one of my favorites. You really made it believable and I'm so relieved your Shepard saves Jack and doesn't start killing her (like in the game) for being indoctrinated. I'm sure there would be a way to remove that mind-control chip. I know a Jack-romancing Shepard would
never give up on Jack!! ^^
Modifié par Nightfable, 15 mars 2012 - 05:43 .
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The way they meet up again at Grissom Academy was electric.
