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Slaves of Cerberus	By : NakedOwlMan Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 138070 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: Mass Effect and all the characters in it are owned by people that are not me. I have not made a cent off this work of fiction

Chapter List
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"We shouldn't be doing this," Jenny Madigan said, shooting a nervous glance over her shoulder, down the darkened corridor behind them. "This is so wrong."

Lauren Thornberg ignored her anxious friend, working her fingers deftly on her omnitool as she accessed the lock controls on the door in front of her. It was a little difficult in the darkened corridor, but Lauren had spent enough nights back at home, breaking into her brother's room to introduce various irritating substances to his underwear drawer, that she knew her way around hacking a lock or two.

"You're going to get us into so much trouble," Jenny shuffled around next to her.

"Nearly got it," she muttered. This lock was probably state of the art at the time, back when this facility served another purpose. But only a few years later, Lauren was barely breaking a sweat hacking it open.

"Can't believe I let you talk me into this," Jenny rubbed a hand through her frazzled red hair. "If we get caught..."

"You were the one who was talking about how bored she was," Lauren said. "Couldn't sleep, and wanted to do something to... there!" she stood up and brushed her hands together as the door slid open. A rush of cold air blew out of the opened passage, as a darkened room in front of them was revealed. "Brr. Guess they must not be heating this part of the facility anymore," she mused.

Despite all her grousing from before, Jenny still moved up, standing next to Lauren and staring out into the pitch black area in front of them. "You think it's all... still in there?"

"Dunno," Lauren said, then took a step forward and looked back at Jenny. "How about we find out?"

Jenny let out a terrified squeak, and Lauren struggled not to laugh. "Lauren, stop!" she hissed. "We're not supposed to go in there! It's restricted!"

"Look, you want to go back and tattle on me, go right ahead," Lauren said, her patience getting a little bit strained. "I bet you'll get a nice gold star for it, and a big smile from the teacher to file away in your wet dream collection. I'm still going in there." Triggering her flashlight, Lauren stepped into the blackness behind the locked door.

After a few seconds, she heard bare footsteps padding behind her. Jenny finally putting her big girl panties on and following behind. Lauren smiled in the dark. As much as Jenny liked to pretend she was above it all, Lauren knew her curiosity would get the better of her schoolmate.

It was quiet, almost completely silent in the large room they had entered. The only sound was their own breathing as they walked down the bare metal corridor. Moving her flashlight beam around the area, Lauren caught glimpses of wiring and pipes, lots of old machines that had long since been deactivated.

"What are these?" Lauren whispered, shining her flashlight around at the devices against the wall. "These glass tubes, what do you think they did with those?"

"Don't you remember the lecture?" Jenny said, her voice trembling just a little as she followed close behind Lauren. "That's where they did it. Took the people who came here and turned them into... into husks."

Lauren rested her hand on a railing to stare at the device. "That's messed up," she observed. Holding her hand up to the light, she found it coated in grey dust. "I bet we're the first people to be in here in years. Probably sealed this place shut right after the war."

It was a little funny when you thought about it, how times had changed. The last people to have been in this area of the facility were probably a bunch of armored, well-armed Alliance marines, sweeping for any signs of a threat before sealing it off for good. And now here they were: two teenage girls, barely turned 18, walking around a former Cerberus research facility in their pajamas.

"I don't like this," Jenny said. "What if... there's still something down here?"

"Don't be stupid," Lauren remarked, as she stepped across the metal grating floor further into the room. "Shepard set off the Crucible, and everything the Reapers made got fried, remember?"

Jenny stuck close to her. "Not everything. Those Collectors that changed sides... they didn't die. And what about all the people Cerberus indoctrinated? They survived."

Lauren shook her head, trying not to let Jenny's hysteria get to her. "They were... different, though."

"So? The things that got made down here were different too! Cerberus made them, not the Reapers. What if... what if they did something to them? Something that made them immune to the Crucible?"

"Would you listen to what you're saying?" Lauren said, trying to assure her terrified friend. "You think they would have built this facility if there was any chance there were still husks around? If there was any danger at all, they would have dealt with it long ago. Killed all the husks or..."

"Or sealed everything behind a locked door," Jenny quietly said.

Lauren felt a slight shiver run through her body. Jenny was being silly, Lauren knew she was. But she had to admit, there was a strange atmosphere in this place. The musty smell, the silence and darkness... it all was a little bit creepy.

Shining her light up to illuminate their faces, Lauren gave Jenny a serious expression, trying her best to sound courageous. "So what if they are out there, huh? Don't you remember why our parents sent us here?" Holding out her free hand, Lauren concentrated, blue energy crackling around her as she flung a bolt of energy into the darkness. "We're biotics! Any Reaper things still out there, they should be running from us! From you, especially!"

"Wh... what?" Jenny blinked.

"Oh, don't do that," Lauren said. "Don't pretend you don't know you're the most powerful one in the entire class. Even Reggie would admit you're a better biotic than him. And considering what a cocky little prick my big bro usually is, that's saying a hell of a lot. Shit, I bet if you and the teach ever went head-to-head... you'd knock her flat on her ass."

Jenny's jaw gaped wide. "No! I could never... I mean, maybe my fields are a bit strong, but against her... I couldn't..."

Lauren struggled not to roll her eyes. She liked Jenny a lot, enjoyed hanging around with her most of the time. But if there were two things that could be annoying about her, they were her whole "little miss goody goody" attitude, and her blatantly-obvious crush on their teacher. Any time Lauren would look over at Jenny during a class lecture or demonstration, she was always staring in rapt attention at the front of the room. And when she'd get called on in class, or was complimented on the use of her biotics during an exercise, Jenny would get the brightest grin on her face, like she'd just won the lottery or something.

"Let's go back," Jenny said. "They'll be noticing that we're gone soon."

"In a bit," Lauren said. "I just want to... wait." She pointed her flashlight beam to a spot behind them. "Did you hear that? Sounded like something moving..."

Lauren strained to listen. Behind her, Jenny was talking. "Don't tease me," she said. "I know that..."

"Shhh shhh shh," Lauren tried to quiet Jenny. Once it was quiet again, she heard it. "There! Did you hear that?"

"Yeah," Jenny whispered. "We should go get someone."

Lauren looked over her shoulder at Jenny. "No way. Whatever it is might run off, hide or maybe even attack somebody. We've got to take it on ourselves."

"Lauren!" Jenny said in panic, as Lauren advanced in the direction of the sound. Nonetheless, Jenny followed her as they stepped deeper into the blackness.

"Think it's..." Lauren said, trying to keep her voice down, "Behind that window there." She pointed to a glass barrier that had been set in the wall between two rooms.

As they got closer, the noise got louder. A knocking sound against the glass. The two of them walked close together, the sound getting louder and more frequent as they approached.

"Oh, God," Jenny gasped next to her. "There's something alive in there!"

They were right next to the glass barrier now, and just as quickly as it started, the noise had stopped. Moving in close, Lauren shone her light inside the adjoining room. "Looks like some sort of laboratory," she said. "Don't see anyone in there, though." Turning to Jenny, she shrugged. "Maybe it was just a rat or..."

There was an impact against the glass, the window shaking from the force, as a human-shaped mass was suddenly flung against the clear surface. Jenny and Lauren screamed, Lauren dropping her flashlight to the ground as they scrambled and tripped trying to get away from whatever had hit the window.

It was only when she heard that familiar, hideous laughter that Lauren finally came to her senses. Grabbing her flashlight up from the floor, Lauren shone it up on the window to see a weasely-little creep in a school uniform cackling against the glass.

"Reggie, you asshole!" Lauren yelled at him.

Lauren's brother Reggie stepped away from the glass, struggling to talk in-between peals of laughter. "The look on your face, Lauren... that was the funniest shit!"

"Dammit, you could have... I might have... would have served you right if I'd tried to throw you across the room with my biotics or something," Lauren barked at him, getting angry to cover up how badly he had startled her. "What the hell are you even doing here?"

"Looks like you need some more combat awareness training, sis," Reggie said, stepping around the window and through the open door into the same room as them. "I've been following you two ever since you snuck out of the dorm." Turning on his own flashlight, he directed the beam onto Jenny. "Hey, J-Bird. Did you see my sister freaking out? Pretty good, right?" Reggie snickered as Lauren slapped him on the shoulder.

"That... wasn't funny," Jenny said, looking a little embarrassed at her own fear, as she averted her eyes and ran a hand through her hair.

Reggie stopped smiling, moving towards Jenny and trying his best to sound contrite. "Sorry, was just having a little fun. Guess maybe I scared you a little too much, huh?"

"It's okay," Jenny said, shuffling her feet. "I wasn't that scared. Just surprised me a little."

"Hey, don't you worry," Reggie said, crossing his arms and puffing out his chest. "Any husks or banshees or anything else pokes its head out, they'll have to get through me first. I'd never let them lay a finger on you, I promise."

Lauren held back the urge to groan. Reggie the perv.

Not that he was the only one in their class who would have tried the same, of course. It wasn't enough that Jenny had to be the best biotic out of all of them, she had a pair of traits that were almost as dangerous as her mental abilities: she was ridiculously hot, but was too humble to realize how hot she was. Anytime you tried to pay her a compliment, she'd immediately start pointing out her own flaws in response. Her nose was too big (it was on the largish side, but not noticeable enough that her face wasn't still stunningly gorgeous). Her hair was frizzy and hard to maintain (and was a beautiful, natural shade of red that most girls would have to spend hours over a sink to achieve). Her boobs were too small (only compared to a few of the other girls in their class, ones who didn't have nearly as many other things going for them as Jenny did.)

If Jenny had the slightest awareness of just how good she looked, and wasn't fixated on other, unachievable goals, she could have every single guy in the class (and probably a few of the girls, too) eating out of her hand. As it was, though, Lauren knew that Reggie didn't have a shot with her. Not without a lot less between his legs, and a lot more painted all over his body.

Jenny was giving Reggie an awkward smile, his attempts at flirting with her only making her more uncomfortable. "Thanks," she said, staring down at the floor with her hand working through her red tresses. Turning to Lauren, Jenny gave her a serious look. "We really need to get back, Lauren. They'll notice that we're gone soon."

"Yeah, guess you're right," Lauren said, giving Reggie a whack on his shoulder with her flashlight. "If this prick's little stunt didn't give us away already, that is."

"Ow, cut it out, brat," Reggie groused. "Should have just turned you in to Miss Sanders. You deserve it after that time you ratted me out to Mom about..."

The three of them froze and fell silent, as a loud moaning sound suddenly started echoing around the room.

"Oh, come on," Lauren quickly said. "Reggie, did one of those stupid friends of yours follow us down here?"

Reggie shook his head. "Nah, they were all asleep already when I got up," he said.

"If you're lying..." Lauren threatened her brother. She called out to the room. "Paul, Andy! If that's one of you doing that, you'd better show yourselves before I shockwave your asses halfway across AIBL!"

No response, just another loud, low moan. Lauren looked at Reggie, searching for any trace of a smirk or sign that this was all another trick to scare them. But he looked just as terrified as the two girls.

"We should make a run for it," Reggie whispered to them. "Everybody stick close, and we'll try to get back to the dorms. On the count of three, okay? One... two..."

Something flew out of the darkness, landing directly on Reggie and sending him tumbling down to the floor. Lauren and Jenny shrieked as Reggie struggled with the human form on the floor.

"Get it off me!" Reggie cried out. "Somebody get it off me! It's trying to kill me! It's..."

"A cheap rubber prop, dumbass," said a voice in the darkness. Suddenly, all of the lights in the room flared to life, Jenny and Lauren blinking their eyes at the unexpected brightness. Lauren's vision adjusted just in time to see two women approaching them.

"Jack, language," said Kahlee Sanders, the director of the AIBL facility.

Standing next to her, their teacher Jack groaned in annoyance. "You never let up about that, do you? These kids have the extranet, they probably hear things ten times as bad on a daily basis."

"Set a good example, Jack," Kahlee insisted.

"Okay, fine," Jack said, rolling her eyes at the director before turning to the students. "Per my superior here, I'm obligated to inform you three that you're in seriously deep doo-doo right now." To Kahlee, she snarked. "There, happy?"

"Miss Thornberg," Kahlee said to Lauren. "What is the name of this facility?"

Lauren stood at attention and obediently answered. "The Alenko Institute for Biotic Learning, ma'am."

"And before that? What was this building called before the Alliance took it over? Mr. Thornberg?"

Standing up from the ground, Reggie tossed aside the cheap Halloween facsimile of a Reaper husk, moving to stand in line next to Lauren and Jenny. "Umm... Sanctuary, ma'am?"

"That's right. This building was once a Cerberus facility," Kahlee lectured the students. "Where a lot of good people were led to believe they would find safety during the Reaper war. Instead... Miss Madigan, can you tell me what happened to those people?"

Glancing over at Jenny, Lauren saw tears dribbling down her face, her lip quivering as she started to speak. Her worst nightmare, Lauren thought: teacher's pet caught misbehaving. "They... they were killed," she said, her voice trembling as she tried her best to avoid Jack's eyes.

"Yes. This area of the facility isn't just locked for the safety of our students. It's also to preserve this place, as a sign of respect for those unfortunates who lost their lives at the hands of Cerberus," Kahlee said, her voice starting to turn stern. "So, not only does the three of you breaking in here show disrespect for our rules, but it shows disrespect to the people who died here, and to their families." She looked between the three of them, brow furrowed. "So, with that said, can the three of you give me any good explanation for what you're doing here, after lights-out, in this place where hundreds of people were murdered?"

Staring down at the floor, none of them spoke. The only sound was Jenny's sniffling.

Kahlee turned to Jack. "They're your students. What do you think should be done with them?"

"Ah, they're kids, Kahlee," Jack said, casually. "You know how they are: tell 'em not to do something, they immediately go out and do it." Turning to the students, her tone turned harsh. "But don't think you little sh... students are going to get off the hook that easy. For the rest of the week, you three will be spending your daily free periods on detention in the study room. And Friday, I expect each of you to have a 2,000-word essay to me, about Cerberus and what they did at this facility. And you better not copy off each other; I see even a single sentence in common between any of your papers, you all get failed for this semester. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," the three of them said.

"And maybe before you go back to the dorms, you oughta take a good look around here," Jack said. "This is the kind of stuff that Cerberus does. Takes innocent people and rips them to shreds. Turns them into things that could barely be called human, or tosses them away like garbage," Jack shook her head, bitterness in her voice. "Maybe keep that in mind, anytime you hear one of your classmates talking about this whole 'new Cerberus' thing, saying that they've changed, that they'll be better this time. No way. They're all freaking monsters. Every last one of them."

"Even Commander Shepard, ma'am?" Reggie spoke up. When he saw the look that came to their teacher's eyes, however, he instantly regretted it.

Charging forward, Jack got eye-to-eye with her student. "Listen to me. I fought alongside Anna Shepard. When I was just some psycho convict that nobody gave a damn about... she cared about me. That woman has killed more Cerberus morons than I could ever hope to in a lifetime. I don't know how Cerberus is faking those videos. A lookalike or some video trick or something... but there is no way that's Commander Shepard. No fucking way. So don't you..."

"Jack," Kahlee gently chided her.

Taking a deep breath, Jack calmed herself down. "Sorry. Just pisses me off. Everything that Shepard did for this galaxy, and all it takes is a few grainy videos for people to turn on her. Real gratitude."

Kahlee stifled a small yawn. "It's getting late. If you can handle locking back up here and getting your students back to their dorms, I'm going to head back to my quarters."

"Yeah, I got it," Jack said. "Might send off a note to the Alliance when you get a chance, let them know we need to upgrade the locks in this place." She shot a glance over to her students. "After all, these three aren't the first that have pulled this stunt."

As Kahlee left, Jack motioned the three students to follow her out of the restricted area. After closing and locking the door behind her, Jack led them down the darkened hallways back to the dorm area. "Don't know what they're thinking," she mused, more to herself than to the students. "Might as well just put up a sign on the damn door, 'Break In, Please.' If they're going to leave that section unoccupied, they could at least make sure it's harder to get into. Reminds me of breaking into that Blood Pack armory with Murtock back in the day. Enough guns to take on a damn turian platoon, and with a lock that a five-year-old could have decrypted. Of course, we got to use all those guns when the diversion we set up didn't pan out, and the Blood Pack caught us red-handed. Man, when that one vorcha took a shotgun blast to..." Blinking, Jack suddenly seemed to remember who she was talking to. "Uh, never mind. Story for another time, maybe."

Glancing over at Jenny, Lauren saw that she had gotten over her despair over getting caught, and had that eager look in her eyes as Jack reminisced. Funny, Jenny had this whole "good girl" image going, but she had an absolute fascination with Jack and her "old life." She had once convinced one of the male students, probably not having to work too hard at it, to get somebody in his family who had access to pull up Jack's old, expunged criminal record. For several nights after that, Lauren had spotted Jenny staring at her omni-tool after lights out, no doubt poring over every last one of their teacher's former offenses.

As they neared the dorms, Jack stopped in her tracks, as a tiny beeping sound was heard. Pulling up her omni-tool, Jack made a quiet sound, almost a gasp. "Kids, go back to your damn bunks and go to sleep," she said, eyes locked on whatever had popped up on her holographic device. "I've got somebody I need to talk to." And without even waiting to make sure they were following her instructions, Jack started dashing in the direction of her office.

"Wonder what that was about," Lauren said. Turning to the other two, she arched an eyebrow. "Want to go see if we can find out?"

"You kidding?" Reggie said. "You've already gotten us into enough trouble tonight."

"Me?" Lauren protested. "Hey, I didn't tell you to follow me out!"

"Whatever. Tell mom and dad I said 'hi' when you get expelled and have to go home," Reggie turned and entered the men's dorm.

Lauren turned to Jenny, already preparing for her protests. "Look, just go back to the dorms and I'll tell you what..."

"No," Jenny interrupted her. "I'm coming with you."

Lauren couldn't hide her surprise. Guess when it came to finding out something about her number one crush, Jenny was willing to take a few risks. "Well, okay," Lauren said. "Let's get going, then."

They quietly followed in Jack's footsteps, arriving at her office door to find it left wide open. Whatever the message had been about, Jack was obviously in a hurry to look into it further.

Cautiously approaching, Lauren slowly moved to look into the doorway. "Fuck, Shepard," Jack was saying from the chair behind her desk. On her viewscreen was a video image of the hero of the galaxy, Commander Shepard. "What the hell is going on? Those videos they put on the news..."

"They faked them, Jack," said Shepard on the screen. "Cerberus is trying to ruin my reputation, get me out of the way so they can put their plan into effect."

"I fucking knew it," Jack exclaimed. "Everybody else thought I was crazy, but I knew that wasn't you. So what are they up to, Shepard?"

Shepard looked concerned. "Not quite sure yet. But I think I know how we can find out." From off-screen, Shepard reached out and grabbed somebody.

"Let me go!" said a woman's voice. With a small amount of effort, Shepard pulled a dark-skinned woman into frame. She wore a Cerberus-branded uniform, and was struggling against Shepard's grip.

"You caught one of them?" Jack asked.

"She says her name is Maya Brooks," Shepard said. "Probably an alias, though. I've been in touch with Miranda and Jacob, and they remember her being pretty high up on the Cerberus food chain back then."

The woman in Shepard's grip shook her head. "Look, I don't know who you are on the other end, but you have to believe me. Shepard's gone crazy. I've never worked for Cerberus in my life, I swear."

"Really?" Shepard said in disbelief. "Because that's not what the documents I found on your omni-tool say. Or are you going to tell me that somebody hacked in and planted this outgoing message, authorizing the attack on Grissom Academy."

"What?" Jack exclaimed, leaping up from her chair and leaning forward into the viewing screen. "Shepard, listen to me. If she's the one who tried to fuck with me and my kids... you do something stupid like turn that bitch over to the Alliance, let her get off light like that fucker Petrovsky, I swear to God I'll hunt you down."

Shepard smiled over the vidscreen. "Jack, come on. Why do you think I'm calling you right now? Like I said, I don't know what this new Cerberus has planned, but I'm betting Miss Brooks here could probably tell us a thing or two."

"No, I swear," Brooks protested. "I don't know what..."

"Quiet!" Shepard barked at her, before turning back to Jack. "And even if I wanted to bring her back to the Alliance, they still think I'm a traitor. We need to find proof of what they did to me, and whatever else Cerberus has planned. So, if I were to bring Miss Brooks down to Horizon to pay a little visit..."

The smile that came to their teacher's face was frightening. "Oh, yeah, Shepard. I'll get the information out of her. No matter what it takes."

"Good, because I'm fifteen minutes out from your location," Shepard said. "Only problem is, with Cerberus framing me, I can't just come knocking on your front door."

Jack nodded in understanding. "There's a shuttle pad on the southwest corner of the facility. Nobody uses it, and the incoming ship sensors are constantly on the fritz. I should be able to make sure you can land without anyone knowing you're here."

Shepard grinned. "Perfect, Jack. Exactly what I was hoping you'd say. See you in a few minutes. Oh, and make sure nobody knows about this." Looking over at Brooks, Shepard sneered. "Don't want anybody interrupting our fun... do we?"

"Damn right," Jack said. "Meet you at the shuttle pad," she deactivated the vid-screen, and Lauren and Jenny ducked out of sight as Jack charged out of her office and made her way toward the southwest section.

Once Jack was out of sight, Lauren felt Jenny move past her. "Where are you going?" Lauren asked.

"Well, we're following her, aren't we?" Jenny said. "Come on, they'll be here soon."

Lauren glanced back down the hallway, in the direction of the dorms. "Jenny, maybe we should go back. Breaking into the restricted section was one thing, but this sounds like some serious... Jenny?"

Turning back, Lauren saw Jenny already halfway down the hall, in the direction that Jack went. "You coming?" she asked, before turning and continuing to walk.

Reluctantly, Lauren followed. Suddenly, she had a very bad feeling about all this.
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Slaves of Cerberus