"Wake up, sweetheart," said a low and pleasant voice.

Jack tried to raise her head, only to feel a huge spike of pain through her head. She groaned involuntarily.

"Yeah," said the voice. "You've got a splitting headache, right? It's a standard side effect of Haldoran. You've got a lot of it in your system right now. We don't want you using any of those famous biotic powers. Not right now. Here, let me help you."

A hand pressed against Jack's forehead and lifted her head up. She felt another hand clamp a metal band around her forehead and temples. There followed a click as the band tightened to hold her head in place. This was a very familiar and unwelcome situation from her past, and she began to strain at her bonds. She could feel that she was wearing nothing but her panties. A growl issued from her throat as she focused her eyes and took in her surroundings.

It was a small bare room. The walls were painted cinder blocks, and there was a bricked-over window on the wall next to her. There was a single harsh light overhead. She saw the outline of a door in the far wall. An actual swinging door, not an automated sliding one. There was nothing else in here but her, the chair she was strapped to, and three men facing her. The two flanking humans wore blue armor which bore the circular symbol of the Blue Suns. The center man was much smaller. His general appearance put Jack in mind of a weasel or rat wearing an unremarkable gray suit. But his green eyes were hard and merciless.

"Now, Subject Zero," said the gray man in the same pleasant voice. "You know that struggling won't do any good."

The name he called her filled her with a hot sheet of rage. She felt metal bands around her head, arms, and waist. It reminded her of the time she woke up in Purgatory, when Shepard had recruited her. She had gotten out of that, and she was going to get out of this.

"Fuck you, you fucking fuck," she spat. "My name is Jack. I'm gonna make you scream it before I tear you apart."

The gray man sighed. "You won't. Not while you have that drug in your system. While it's in effect you're just another normal woman." He cocked his head at her. "Ordinarily, you'd have been kept sedated until we got you to a proper holding facility. But time is short and you have information that we require."

"You will suck on my ass, motherfucker. That's all you're getting out of me."

He laughed, and made a casual waving gesture with one hand. The two flanking guards stepped around to either side of her chair. The gray man leaned forward, gave Jack a gentle smile, and then gave her a short vicious punch right into her nose.

Jack felt an explosion of pain and heard the crunch of her nose breaking. Her eyes began to water. She ignored the agony, she ignored it all. She'd been through worse. She would get through this too.

"That's just to show we're serious," said the gray man. He stood upright.

Jack took a deep, ragged breath. "It is going to feel so nice when I gut you. I'm going to take my time." She looked up at him like something slimy found under a rock, blood flowing from her nose down both sides of her mouth. "Where is Marcus? What did you do to him?"

"Oh, it's Marcus now? Not Assface?" He gave her another gentle smile. "You'll never see him again. Why worry?"

The hot sheet of rage in her faltered. She stared off at nothing. "You really aren't making it easy on yourself," she said. "You really won't like living life with nothing but a hole to piss out of. I'm going to rip your cock off with my teeth."

"Enough," said the gray man. "We need to know if there was any plot regarding EDI. Did any of you plan to alter or sabotage her?"

Jack began to focus on her breath instead of the rage. It wasn't easy. In fact, it was one of the hardest things she'd ever done. But she did it. For Marcus. She knew he was dead. There was a horrible void deep inside her, one that she'd never thought she would feel for another person's death since...since she'd lost Murtock. But she was going to get through this. Marcus would want her to.

"I'm just a stupid grunt, asshole," said Jack. "Why would I know anything?"

The gray man took a step forward and gave her a slap across the face. He was much stronger than his thin frame implied; Jack actually saw stars.

"Heh. You hit like a pussy, shithead."

He gave her another slap. This one split her lip. She grinned a bloody rictus up at him. "You know me, you fuck. If you call me that name, you know what I've been through. You think you can hurt me?"

The gray man looked at her thoughtfully, then brought his fist around and smashed it into the left side of Jack's face. She felt the skin alongside her eye split, and felt blood start to flow.

"Subject Zero," he said, "I know you have a high pain threshold. But why prolong your suffering? We don't want to hurt you. What's done is done. Your little plot is over. Just tell us what we want to know and we'll stop. You'll be well cared for, I assure you. Now, again...was there any plan to sabotage EDI?"

Jack let her head sag against its restraining band. She realized that there weren't any bands on her lower legs. She wheezed a little, trying to seem more hurt than she was. She wanted him to come closer. She spoke softly. "My name..is Jack. And I don't know shit."

"Your name is what we make it, Subject Zero. We have made you. We own you. You will you realize that and you will stop this silly acting out. Then things will go so much easier for you."

The gray man stepped forward. Jack could just see his shoes in front of her bare feet. He placed one shoe on her foot and then suddenly stomped down hard. She felt one of the bones in her arch break. Just as she felt the pain begin, she brought her other foot up in a fast arc. Her instep connected with the gray man's crotch in a satisfying thud. He let out a high-pitched scream and staggered back. One of the Blue Suns stepped in front of the gray man to shield him from Jack. She screamed a high, vicious laugh.

The door opened, and another merc entered. He had to stoop to get through the doorway. This new guy was just about the biggest human that Jack had ever seen. He had short-cropped black hair and a face that looked like he'd been carved out of a block of granite.

"Everything all right in here?" he said. He had a voice that sounded like it came from the bottom of a well. He gave the bent-over gray man a humorous glance.

"We're fine, Corbin," replied the gray man in a tight and pained voice. "We don't need help."

"Corbin, is it?" said Jack. "It's good to know your name. When I get out of here, I'll carve mine into your forehead. Or maybe into your dick."

Corbin shifted his amused look to her. "Seems like a real peach you got there, Harper."

"This doesn't concern you!" snapped Harper. "The less you know the better." He was standing more upright now, but his face was still drawn in pain.

Jack laughed. "Yeah, Mr. Tall Drink Of Water looks like he doesn't have much space in that head. You tell him anything new, he might forget his mom's name."

Corbin walked further into the room. He now no longer looked amused. "You watch your mouth, you little skank. I'm not the one strapped to a chair."

Jack realized she'd hit paydirt. It was either the slam on his intelligence, or the mention of his mother. She decided to push on the latter. "Oh, did I hit a nerve there, Mr. Corbin? Is your momma a saint?"

Corbin loomed over her. "Shut up," he growled.

Jack tilted her head and gave him her best 'fuck you' grin as she felt the blood drip off her chin. "Your momma is pretty nice, I have to admit. I found that out last night. She can moan so sweet-"

Corbin belted her across the right side of her face with the back of his fist. Jack's head snapped around; it felt like she'd been hit by a tree. She felt more torn skin and more blood flowing. She probed the inside of her mouth with her tongue. Two teeth loose.

"At least you got both sides of my face to match, fuckwit. Nice job."

The gray man finally stood back up. "Fine, bitch," he snarled. His voice was no longer pleasant. "You play it this way and see how you like it. I tried to reason with you." He walked off to one side and out of Jack's field of vision. He returned, pushing a cart in front of him. The top of the cart was covered by a cloth. He wheeled the cart in front of Jack, then whipped the cloth off.

The cart contained an impressive array of cutting implements. Saws, scalpels, bolt cutters...it was all there.

The gray man pointed at the instruments. "You see that?" he said, his voice almost back to normal now. "Have a good look. We'll let you have a nice long time to look. Then we're coming back in here, and if you don't answer our questions to our satisfaction we are going to start cutting parts off. We have to bring you back alive. We don't have to bring you back intact."

He turned and left the room, still hobbling slightly. The two mercs followed. Corbin looked over Jack's nearly-naked body and then gave her an unpleasant smile and a wink. He then followed them out of the room. The door slammed shut. Jack was left alone to look at the instruments of her impending torture.

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Garrus heard Donnelly roaring before he even strode through the door to the hangar.

"Don't give me that shit, Miranda. Where the fook is Kelly?"

Garrus jogged, not quite running, into the hangar bay which was by now quite crowded. Miranda stood near the door into the hangar. The rest of the crew stood scattered throughout the space. Garrus saw most of the ground team was here. He didn't see Kasumi. The thief had donned her catsuit in record time after the alarm, given him a last kiss, and then vanished. He didn't see Tali or Jacob either.

Donnelly stood in a hunched-over posture near the parked shuttle as he glared at Miranda. His face was wild and bloody. Garrus stared in shock. Gone was the placid, unassuming engineer. He now looked more like some big and terminally pissed-off vorcha. Garrus moved further into the space and turned slightly to keep an eye on the door into the hangar.

"I assure you, Yeoman Chambers is on her way," said Miranda. Her voice remained even and steady in the face of the engineer's fury. "Now, Marcus, please let someone look you over. You've been seriously injured."

"Fook that. Jack's been kidnapped. Whoever did it knew where we would be. There was a bottle of brandy with a note from Kelly. It was drugged. We were attacked. They bypassed the lock and came at us right after we would have taken a drink."

Miranda held up a hand. "Please. Let someone look at you. We will deal with everything in a calm fashion." She looked around. "Where is Kasumi?" There was no answer. Miranda looked at Garrus. "Gunnery Officer Vakarian, do you know the whereabouts of Ms. Goto?"

"No, XO Lawson."

"EDI," said Miranda, "locate Kasumi Goto. Full sensor suite scan authorized. Tell Mr. Taylor to go collect her."

"Acknowledged," said the AI in an almost robotic voice.

Garrus gritted his teeth. He hoped Kasumi wasn't up to anything too foolish. All Kasumi had told him was that she'd be watching from the shadows until she knew what was going on.

Just then Kelly walked into the hangar. She stopped dead when she saw everybody looking at her. Donnelly's eyes bored into her. "Did you know, Kelly?" he asked her. His voice was now low and growling. "Did you have a hand in this? If you had anything to do with it, I swear I will take you apart-"

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"Chief Engineer Donnelly," said Miranda. Her voice remained calm. "Did Yeoman Chambers actually hand you the bottle? Was it in your possession the entire time?"

The anger in Donnelly's eyes faltered. "No, it was there in the room when we got there."

Kelly finally unfroze. She looked like a small mouse facing a committee of snakes. "I bought a bottle of delrach brandy through the hotel," she said. "I asked them to deliver it to the room with a note. Marcus, what happened?"

"You see?" asked Miranda. "There was plenty of opportunity for someone to get ahold of that bottle and doctor it. Now, you really should have Yeoman Chambers take a look at you. She does have some medical training."

"Why her? Where are the docs?" asked Zaeed.

"And where's Shepard?" added Joker. "He was off doing something for Liara, right? We need to get in touch with him stat."

Miranda sighed. "Both Mordin and Chakwas are off assisting Shepard in his task. That is all you need to know." Garrus almost said something to contradict her, but decided that this was not the time. Not yet.

In the meantime, Kelly pulled down an emergency first aid kit off of a nearby bulkhead and cautiously approached Donnelly. She took out some antiseptic wipes. Donnelly stood staring at the hangar deck, now clearly in shock. The yeoman began to gently wipe the blood off of his face. She murmured something to Donnelly, but Garrus didn't catch it. Garrus glanced around as the crew started to shift and mutter. The air felt tense. Even Thane looked concerned. The drell's body posture seemed to indicate complete relaxation, however, as the assassin leaned casually against a bulkhead near Marcus.

"Both of the doctors are gone at once?" asked Samara. "That does not seem particularly wise. In any case, I agree with Mr. Moreau. This is a serious attack, and we need to notify the Commander. We also need to begin our rescue attempt right now."

"Any rescue planning will wait until Shepard gets back," said Miranda.

That snapped Donnelly out of his shock. He looked at Miranda in disbelief. "The fook are you sayin'? They may have Jack loaded onto a ship right now, and if they get her off Illium we will have no chance in hell of finding her. We've got to move!"

Miranda shook her head. "I suspect this abduction of Jack is to claim the considerable bounty on her. This was a planned operation, and not done on the spur of the moment. We must be cautious. We will wait until Shepard returns. I want him to plan the rescue attempt."

Garrus was about to interject, to try to gently persuade Miranda to reconsider. But then his comm crackled, and he heard a brief fragmentary message from Chakwas in his ear.

"Garrus, hope your re...this...under attack...moving Shepard."

He stiffened. He turned and locked eyes with Miranda.

"Shepard's under attack," he said.

----------------------------------------

The nMRI clinic's loading dock was a large square of concrete with a flat metal roof overhead to keep rain off of any unloaded cargo. The sides were open and exposed, which wasn't good. Fortunately, it was also lined with a number of substantial pillars to support the roof. Chakwas crouched behind one of them. The next pillar over shielded both Mordin and the unconscious Shepard. She heard the continuous crackling of gunfire as she tried to contact the Normandy.

"I repeat, Garrus, I hope you're receiving this. We are under attack by unknown forces. We are moving Shepard. Please respond if you receive this."

Mordin glanced around his pillar and pointed his arm. Something bright and hot flew from his omni-tool followed by a far-off, panicked scream.

Rentola slipped around the edge of her pillar. He moved softly and silently like flowing smoke. "We're stuck here," he said, "but they can't get the necessary crossfire to really push in on us. We just have to hold out for a bit. The Big Wheel is on its way, it should be here within ten minutes."

"That's our extraction, right?" asked Chakwas. "Why do you call it the Big Wheel?"

The commando smiled at her. "Because it keeps on turning."

----------------------------------------

Kasumi hid near the elevator, just around the corner from the door to the hangar deck. Her eyes narrowed as she heard the mounting panic in everyone's voice. Once Garrus had mentioned the attack on Shepard, she knew that it was time to be gone. This was not some random attack. She suspected that Cerberus was on the move, and Tali had to be warned. She was also pretty sure that EDI wouldn't be able to track her, 'full sensor suite' or not.

One of the access tunnels had its entrance near her location. She ghosted over to it and opened it. She left it open just long enough for someone to have entered, then closed it again. Kasumi stepped quietly back along the corridor and waited.

Soon, the elevator door hissed open and Jacob came out. He looked towards the access tunnel entrance and then around the corridor. Kasumi watched him move his eyes right over her location as she breathed silently. It was a familiar situation for her, to be apparently out in plain view but still invisible.

Jacob touched one ear as he received further instructions. Presumably EDI was feeding him real-time information. He gave a bemused grunt and headed back into the elevator. Kasumi was right behind him, and slipped in before the doors closed. She hugged one wall as she stared at the armorer's back.

"EDI didn't see anything other than the door opening," he murmured into his comm. "She's in the access tunnels. EDI will notify me if another tunnel door opens. My guess is she's heading up to the AI core to assist Tali. I'll be there to intercept." Kasumi had hoped that Jacob wouldn't be quite so quick on the uptake. But she would make this work, even if she had to knock out Jacob. She hoped she wouldn't have to hurt him too badly.

The elevator opened again, and Jacob stalked out towards the medbay. Kasumi flitted behind him. She could simply tase him now, but that might alert others. It would be better to see what he had planned. As Jacob moved up to the medbay door, Kasumi went alongside between him and the wall.

Just as Jacob reached for the medbay door control, he whirled and lunged at her.

Kasumi had a moment of shocked surprise and almost didn't dodge in time. He grappled for her neck just as she slipped inside his arms and gave him a substantial hit across the mouth with her elbow. He grunted and rocked to the side. Kasumi ducked under his arms and began to scramble away on all fours, only to feel one hand clamp onto her ankle. Jacob yanked her towards him. She kicked back just as he pulled, and saw a pressure cut appear on his forehead. He didn't seem to notice, and piled on top of her as she kept hitting. She was strong, but he had the advantage of sheer muscle mass. He had one of her arms pinned under his chest, and she couldn't move her legs. She reached up with her free hand and tried to gouge at his eyes, but he grabbed the hand and yanked it away. He was very good in the clinch, after all.

"Dammit, Kasumi, STOP," he yelled, and pinned her neck down with his other forearm. "Please! I don't want to hurt you!"

Kasumi couldn't breathe. She kept struggling as her vision began to fade.

----------------------------------------

"Shepard's under attack," said Garrus. He now looked very steadily at Miranda. Donnelly felt an electric hush flow through the crew at the news.

Grunt took a step forward, his fists clenched. "My Battlemaster needs aid?" asked the krogan.

Donnelly pushed Kelly away, ignoring the hurt look on her face. She might or might not be guilty, but for now he wasn't going to give her the benefit of the doubt. "That cannot be a coincidence," he said. It was well past time to get his brain working again. Several things were falling into place in his mind. "I guess we're going to have to do two rescues, now." He watched Miranda closely.

The XO shook her head. "One thing at a time. We are going to get a plan together. I will not have everyone running off half-cocked. Our priority has to be Shepard. Marcus, I can appreciate how much Jack means to you but the Commander comes first."

"We'll get her back, Marcus," murmured Kelly.

"Don't worry, Chiefy," added Zaeed, more loudly. "She'll be all right. She's a tough one."

Donnelly nodded with a grim smile. "I guess it could be worse. I could be dead, right?"

"Yes," said Miranda. "You were very fortunate."

"But why didn't they kill me, Miranda?" said Donnelly, his voice now almost a shout.

There was a short silence.

"After all," he continued in a quieter tone, "I was a liability. I didn't see their faces, true, but I could raise an alarm. Which I've just done. Why not simply slit my throat and dump me in the harbor? By the time you found my body, they would be long gone with Jack."

Miranda waved a hand. "I don't know. I won't speculate on their motives."

Donnelly pressed on. "Further, why did they dump me right next to the Normandy? Why not on the other side of Nos Astra? Why did they make sure that I'd get back safely? Why didn't they kill me, Miranda?"

Miranda's lips thinned. "I don't know-"

Donnelly pointed a finger at her. "Because YOU needed me alive!" he roared.

No one moved. No one breathed.

"Mr. Donnelly, that is a very serious accusation-" began Miranda before Donnelly interrupted her.

"Not an accusation. It's the fookin' truth. You needed me alive. You needed me here. I'm the only engineer who really knows the Normandy. You couldn't get someone else, not at this late date. Aside from Tali, but then she's not human, is she?"

Garrus dropped one of his feet back, as if getting ready to lunge. Around him, Donnelly could feel the tension as the crew began to look at each other.

"Mr. Donnelly," said Miranda in a hard voice, "You are overwrought. You have just been physically attacked. I am willing to overlook your ridiculous accusations but I warn you-"

"You warn me, Miranda? I get back here, I raise a ruckus and you say we need to sit on our arses until Shepard gets back. And now he's unavailable because he's under attack. How very convenient for you. No wonder they didn't try to keep me from getting back. They knew nothing would be done for Jack."

Donnelly saw Kelly step forward. She stretched out pleading hands to both him and Miranda. "Please," she said, "let's just go through one thing at a time. What is Shepard's situation?"

Garrus cocked his head. "I don't know. I only just received a fragment of a call from Doctor Chakwas."

"Why did you get it, and not Miranda?" asked Joker.

The turian took a deep breath. "Because Shepard isn't assisting Liara T'Soni. He's off with the doctors getting a detailed full body scan on non-Cerberus equipment. He wanted to check for any monitoring devices." He looked at Miranda. "And only you and I knew that, Miranda. How did they find Shepard?"

Miranda glared at Garrus. "You tell me. You never told me the location of the clinic. Your damned boyfriend must have slipped up. He must have been followed."

"Followed by whom, Miranda?" asked Garrus. His voice became disarmingly mild.

"How should I know? Shepard's made a lot of enemies. That's irrelevant right now. We need to plan a rescue for him-"

"And for Jack too, you bitch." said Donnelly. Kelly shot him a pleading glance which he ignored.

Miranda pointed a finger at him. "Engineer Donnelly, I am going to have you sedated. You have sustained a serious head wound. You are mentally compromised as a result, and you need medical attention. EA Rogers can fill in for you while you are indisposed-"

"Oh, you mean this damned bosh'tet?" said Tali's from the hangar doorway.

The quarian backed into the hangar with Rogers in tow. Tali had one hand in a firm hold on Roger's scalp and the muzzle of her shotgun jammed into the base of his skull, using him as a human shield for whatever was behind her. That 'whatever' was very quickly apparent. Abramson followed the pair, moving at the same pace as Tali. He held a pistol in both hands, trained on her head.

Garrus backpedaled further to keep them all in his field of view. The incoming trio moved slowly into the hangar deck.

"Et tu, Abramson?" murmured Donnelly.

Miranda took in a breath. "Abramson, report."

"Rogers followed the quarian," said Abramson. Under his light blond hair his usually smiling face was an expressionless mask. "She accessed the AI core and then the main terminal. She had just gained root access when Rogers intervened. She didn't do anything to EDI, Rogers stopped her in time. I was back in the medbay and I didn't exactly see what happened. Next thing I know, she had Rogers by the neck. She said we were taking a walk down to the hangar. Since that's where you wanted her, I followed along."

"Did you see Taylor or Goto?"

Abramson nodded. "They're right behind us."

Garrus stepped forward. "What happened to Kasumi?"

Miranda spun and pointed a finger at him. There was now a gun in her other hand, and Donnelly didn't remember seeing her draw it. Damn, she was fast. For right now, she was pointing her gun at the deck. "You will stay right there, turian!" she spat. "Everyone will stay exactly where they are. There has been treason brewing on board this ship. We have just heard it. Tali was attempting to sabotage EDI. With assistance from Kasumi, no doubt. She's the only one who could bypass the AI core security."

Miranda then pointed at Donnelly. "And you, Mr. Donnelly. You are a part of this as well. I figured out your little scheme to bypass EDI's surveillance. What were all of you planning? Tell me, was Jack really kidnapped, or is this all some ploy to get us to split up?"

Donnelly said nothing. Tali looked over at him. Abramson took a half step forward as if to try to rescue Rogers, but the quarian's head snapped back around to him and gave the assistant a little warning shake of her hood.

Garrus looked past Abramson, and Donnelly saw the turian's fists clench. Now Jacob entered as well, pushing a dazed-looking Kasumi. He had her arm locked behind her. There was a large, ragged rip along the front of the thief's catsuit.

"What did you do to her, you bastard?" growled Garrus. "Did you get your jollies on while you had her down?"

"Easy, Garrus," said Jacob. He had a puffed lip and blood all down one side of his face. "I just did it to disable her cloak. And I frisked her for weapons. That's all." The armorer pulled out a Carnifex hand cannon and tossed it over near Miranda's feet. "She just had this," he said. Donnelly saw Garrus look at the gun, then back at Kasumi. She raised her head and stared back at Garrus silently. The turian's stance eased slightly.

"Zaeed," said Miranda. "Since you are standing closest to Engineer Donnelly, will you please take him into custody?"

The scarred mercenary looked at Miranda with an unreadable expression, then shrugged and pulled out his pistol. He casually walked over, and Donnelly felt the muzzle of Zaeed's pistol poke into his side.

"Sorry, Chiefy," said Zaeed. "But Cerberus is paying me. Nothing personal, right?"

Samara stepped forward. Miranda shifted her finger to her. "I said nobody move! We are getting Shepard back and then I'm getting to the bottom of this treason. Tali, you will release Rogers now. I promise we do not want to harm you, but we will if you leave us no alternative."

Tali looked over at Miranda, and even through the quarian's purple visor Donnelly could see the force of the her silver glare. "You promise me mercy? I should trust my life to the honor of Cerberus? My people have seen first hand your version of honor, you CUNT."

The curse resonated off of the walls. Donnelly couldn't quite believe he'd heard it. Jack's vocabulary must have rubbed off on Tali.

Miranda didn't even blink. "None of you will be harmed. Kasumi, Marcus, and Tali will be confined and then Jacob and Zaeed will mount a rescue to get Shepard back safely." She looked over at Garrus. "Do you have a problem with that, Gunnery Officer Vakarian? For some reason, I thought you might object."

Garrus said nothing. Miranda tilted her head. "Nothing to say?" she said, in an almost silky voice. "I thought you would have thrown in a veto by now. Unless you don't want to appear to be part of all of this plotting."

"There must be some mistake," said Samara. "I know Marcus. He is an honorable man. I do not believe he would be a part of anything nefarious."

"The Justicar speaks sense," said Thane. He leaned casually against a bulkhead, as if he was watching a tennis match. "Why would he work so hard on the refit, if he is untrustworthy? Why would Tali, for that matter? They both know what's at stake. There is no motive for such a plot."

Donnelly took a breath. He did have another card to play. Now it was time to do it Shepard's way. No more lies or coverups.

"Actually, there is one very good motive," he said in a casual voice. Samara turned to look at him in disbelief, but Donnelly kept his eyes on Miranda as he said the next words. "The Pragia facility? Where Jack was experimented on? It was run by Cerberus. We have the proof."