Fuck, she couldn't believe she was actually doing this. If the Jack from a few months ago had seen what the Jack of today was about to do, she would have pulled out her shotgun and put herself out of her own future misery.
But if something was going screwy with her head, she needed to get it fixed. And there was only one headshrinker she had access to at the moment. So she had no choice, even if Kelly was a former Cerberus lackey.
She barged into Kelly's office (after about fifteen minutes trying to figure out where the fuck it was) to find the ship's counselor in the middle of a video chat with someone.
"Yeah, she'll be at Wavelength two nights from now," Kelly was saying to the person on the other end. "Dark hair and a pink dress," she paused to allow the other person to speak, Jack unable to make out the words from where she was standing. "Oh, she'll be nervous at first, but in the end, she'll love it. I know I did when you ladies..." Looking up, Kelly saw Jack and smiled. "Somebody just stepped into my office. Thanks again for everything. Bye."
Standing up, Kelly put on that well-practiced fake smile of hers, and it was almost enough to make Jack run right back out the door. "Jack, what a surprise! I actually have an appointment in a little while, but I've got some time if you..."
"Fuck 'em, my problem's worse," Jack said, slouching back into Kelly's chair for visitors. "Could seriously affect my performance in the field and all that shit."
Leaning back in her chair, Kelly tented her fingers. Shit, is that something they taught in shrink school or something? Every one of these bullshit psychologists they had sent her to, they all did that same thing. "That does sound serious. Tell me what's been going on."
And, just as Kelly instructed, Jack began spilling the beans. She had been planning to leave out the more carnal details of her encounters with Gabby and that terribly-dressed douche in the hotel bar, but under the influence of whatever was fucking with her mind at the moment, Kelly's instruction caused Jack to tell every last detail of what had been happening.
About halfway through her confession, Jack finally realized what was bugging her. All the other shrinks she'd been forced to talk to in the past, they would have been taking notes like crazy with all the things Jack was saying. But Kelly was just sitting and listening, fingertips still pressed together. The only change to her demeanor came when Jack started talking about her self-pleasuring in the shower, or fucking that guy out in public. Those stories brought a slight smile to her face.
"And then I came here, because I want this shit to stop," Jack finished. "Seems like any time anyone tells me to do something, I just can't help myself. You got some pills or some shit you can give me to make this go away?"
The smile returned to Kelly's face, but it wasn't friendly like before. "It's proceeding very well, I see. It won't be long now, before you're one of us."
Hearing those words again sent a chill through Jack's body. "You're part of this, aren't you? You, Ken and Gabby... you're all fucking with me!"
"We're not fucking with you, Jack," Kelly said, as she rose to her feet. "Not yet, at least. We're just trying to show you how wonderful it is to obey. To let yourself be controlled."
Jack tensed, ready to bolt for the door. "Stop," Kelly said, seeing Jack starting to make her move. "You can't move until I tell you that you can."
Dammit, no. Jack gritted her teeth, trying to force herself to rise from the chair, but all her efforts resulted in nothing.
"What are you doing to me, you bitch?" Jack snarled at Kelly.
"I'm not doing anything to you," Kelly said, walking around the desk to stand in front of Jack. "It's what she's doing to you. She's inside your mind now, Jack. No matter how hard you resist, she's in control now."
"Who the fuck is 'she'?" Jack asked desperately, still struggling against the command to stay in place.
Kelly laughed. "Seriously, Jack? Do you really need to ask that question?"
No, she didn't. It was all starting to fall into place now. Dammit, that bitch. How had Shepard been stupid enough to trust her?
"Stand up, Jack," Kelly instructed, and Jack immediately obeyed. "I want to show you something." Sitting back on the edge of her desk, Kelly gestured at Jack with a finger. "Take off all your clothes, would you kindly."
Glaring daggers at Kelly, Jack unfastened the strap around her chest. "I'll kill you all. You, her, the whole lot of you are fucking dead," she promised, as she dropped her pants and underwear to the floor.
Kelly girlishly giggled. "You think she hasn't already thought of that? You'd put a bullet into your own brain before you'd be able to harm any of us."
Jack was finally naked, shivering in the cool recycled air of the Normandy. Kelly leaned back to get the full picture of Jack's body. "Mmm, what a work of art." Reaching forward, she traced a line with her finger over one of Jack's surgical scars. "I can't wait until it's all finished, and you're completely one of us. We're going to have so much fun together, Jack. I promise. But for now..." Kelly dropped to her knees in front of Jack. "Spread your legs wider, please."
This wasn't happening. Jack knew that Kelly was a slut, but she was going to do this right here, in her own office on the Normandy? Jack shifted her legs apart, and Kelly began working a finger in-between her pussy lips.
"See, you don't want to admit it, Jack," Kelly said, as she wiggled her finger around inside of Jack, "but the reason it's been so easy for her to do this to you is that deep down, I think you want to be controlled. All the running you've been doing, all the denial, and it's all to hide from the truth. That you were born to be a slave."
"Fuck you," Jack said, struggling not to show the arousal she was feeling, as Kelly's finger rubbed at her most sensitive spots. "I'm not a goddamn slave, and I never will be, no matter what she does to me."
Kelly arched an eyebrow, as she withdrew her finger to show it to Jack. It was damp and glistening. "Your body's telling me another story, Jack," Kelly said. "It turns you on, doesn't it? Being used like this, helpless at someone else's command." Putting two fingers up inside Jack, Kelly's expert touch found Jack's g-spot again, and Jack couldn't hold back her moans as Kelly firmly pressed against the sensitive area. "Tell the truth, Jack: you like how this feels, don't you?"
"Yes," Jack immediately answered, feeling her excitement steadily building.
But it was an unfair question: she was talking about the shit Kelly was doing inside her cunt. Not that she was being turned on by being ordered around.
She wasn't, dammit.
As Kelly's fingertips continued to press and rub against Jack's insides, she began darting her tongue across the barbell piercing through Jack's clit. After a few more minutes of this, Jack couldn't hold back any longer. The orgasm was intense, more powerful than she'd ever experienced before, and she could feel herself squirting all over Kelly's face.
"Didn't I tell you?" Kelly said, smiling up at Jack with juices smeared all over her mouth and face. "Just think: you'll be able to cum like this every day once you've fully become one of us. You won't even be able to remember why you resisted it for so long."
Jack, still gasping from the mind-blowing climax she'd just experienced, could only whimper in response.
Standing up, Kelly leaned in and gave Jack an open-mouthed kiss. Jack could taste her own arousal on Kelly's tongue and wanted to retch. "Now," Kelly said as she pulled away. "I'd love to have you stay and play with me some more, but as I said, I have an appointment about to arrive. But I have some instructions for you before you leave."
Walking around to the other side of the desk, while wiping at her face, Kelly sat down and pulled up her computer terminal. "I'm going to be sending an address on Illium to your omni-tool. Once we arrive, you will be at that address precisely at the time I specify in the message." Glancing back at Jack, still naked and shuddering in the aftermath of her intense climax, Kelly smirked. "Oh, and you can get dressed and leave, by the way." Jack did so quickly, wanting to get away before Kelly gave her any further instructions. On the way out the door, she saw Miranda heading towards Kelly's office. "Don't say anything to me," Jack barked at her. "Don't tell me to do anything, don't..." Groaning in anger, she clapped her hands on her ears and sang the first song that came to her head, just to keep any more instructions from coming her way.
It had all fallen into place. Kelly had confirmed her suspicions completely. Jack knew exactly what was going on, and who the "she" was that was behind it all.
As she made her way back to her safe place in engineering, her eyes locked on that fucking symbol on the wall. The same one she had seen when she'd broken loose from Purgatory and saw it emblazoned on her "rescue" ship. Dammit, she'd been such an idiot.
Cerberus. In the end, it always came back to Cerberus. And to Miranda, the bitch that was behind all of it.
It made so much sense to her now. They made such a big show of Miranda "quitting" Cerberus, the Illusive Man putting all his acting skills to work at faking his anger. Just like when he pretended to have no idea what had happened to Jack at Pragia.
So now Miranda was above suspicion. But the truth was, she had never left Cerberus. Neither did all the rest of them. All that "one of us" talk, she finally understood: they were going to brainwash all the others on this ship. Indoctrinate them into loyal servants of Cerberus. Kelly, Ken, Gabby... they were all still pawns of the Illusive Man. And Miranda, of course. The worst of them all.
"A mistake," that's what Miranda had called her. And now they were correcting the mistake. Jack would be the first, of course; the Illusive Man wouldn't be able to resist getting his former test subject under control again. And once "Subject Zero" was a loyal Cerberus drone, they'd go after the rest. The only thing Jack wasn't sure of at this point was whether or not they'd try to brainwash the aliens, too. Or just throw them all out the airlock and return the ship back to Cerberus once every human on the ship was under their control.
When she reached her cot in engineering, she started making her plans. The message that Kelly had mentioned in her office arrived on Jack's omni-tool, and she smirked. "Fuck you, bitch," she said.
Once they reached Illium, the first thing she would do is book herself passage on another ship. By the time Kelly's deadline arrived, Jack would be so far away from Illium that even if she wanted to, she wouldn't be able to make it in time.
Back on the run from Cerberus. Jack sighed, as she realized that her cozy existence here on the Normandy was about to come to an end. But she should have never let herself get comfortable. It was her lot in life, it seemed, to always be looking over her shoulder.
So she would leave the Normandy. And hopefully, once she had her distance from this damned ship, whatever shit Miranda had done to her head would wear off. "And if it doesn't," Jack thought to herself, "Plenty of ways to off yourself out there. Because I'll be damned if I let those Cerberus assholes put their hands on me again."
Laying back on the cot, Jack grabbed the pillow and wrapped it around her head, pressing it hard against her ears.
Her last thoughts before drifting to sleep were of Shepard. Jack hated having to leave her behind with these traitorous Cerberus bastards, but she couldn't afford to warn Shepard and potentially ruin her escape plans. Besides, they were even, anyway: Shepard had sprung her from jail, and Jack saved her ass on the Collector station.
She didn't owe Shepard anything.