Chapter 0 - Prologue

This wasn't supposed to happen. Commander Shepard wasn't supposed to be captured by Cerberus. We were not supposed to be captured as well with the help of her hand. Unfortunately, however, it all did happen.

During the mission on Thessia to recover some sort of artifact, Kai Leng dropped by, much to Shepard's displeasure. Somehow, he had gotten the better of her but instead of killing her, the Illusive Man gave orders to capture her. I didn't know which was worse. The Alliance didn't even bother searching for her, so we had to take matters into our own hands. We attempted to assault Cerberus Headquarters, and perhaps we would've been successful, if not for the fact that Shepard had been the one to defeat us. We didn't know what happened to her or if it was even the real Shepard, but she overpowered us easily. Some of us couldn't even bring ourselves to shoot at her. Me included, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy.

I don't know what happened to the others. Keelah, I don't even know if they're still alive. I just know that I'm in a dark room with Garrus, both of us tied to a chair with restraints on our hands and feet, our backs to each other. There is a single light above our heads but everything else is dark. I hear a door open accompanied by the sound of footsteps. I see her, Commander Shepard, walking towards us. She passes me by, however, to stand near Garrus. The sound of her omni-blade slicing his neck and his painful shouting fills the room. With one last grunt, he goes silent. As Shepard moves toward me, I feel my body shaking. The woman I had once trusted is carrying out my execution. No, this isn't her. Whatever Cerberus did to Shepard, it just isn't her. Because the real Shepard wouldn't do something like this. She'd sooner shoot herself in the head then kill one of her squadmates, let alone two.

She drives the omni-blade straight into my abdomen. It is painful but not only that, it burns. I don't scream, though. Instead, I look her straight in the eyes. Her eyes are no longer green, they are now the same type of eyes the Illusive Man has. Clearly, they've indoctrinated her. Ashley had suggested that when we were fighting her, but I refused to believe it. Now I can't deny it. While her indoctrination has not gone as far as the Illusive Man's, her face is still full of pure hatred and anger. But for a moment, her face softens and she says this:

"Forgive me."

It only lasts a second and her face is full of rage again. She retracts her omni-blade and as the blood gushes from my abdomen, she smiles triumphantly. Shepard watches me as more of my blood oozes out. As everything starts to black out, my last thought is this: "I forgive you, Shepard."

One hour earlier…

"So what are we going to do with them?"

The Illusive Man is sitting in his chair, smoking a cigar as usual. "Turn the males into troops and ensure they stay loyal to our cause. Dispose of the turian and quarian."

"What about Liara?"

"Keep the Asari. She may be useful for our experiments."

"And Ash?"

"Make sure she stays in her cell. For now, however, you may use the females however you want while they're in captivity."

Shepard smirked and turned to leave.