Jacob Taylor doesn't have a degree in psychology. Or any degree in anything other than kicking ass. He's good at that. So's Shepard. They're both soldiers, and, if he's honest, they just screwed Murphy over by pure luck. Worst case scenario, Shepard out cold on the operating table when the mechs pepper her with gunshots. Second worst case scenario, Shepard awake but running around the facility with no guidance and no backup. She's a tough SOB, even fresh off the table, she'd probably survive. But Jacob doesn't think she'd be too interested in joining them if they have to explain to her afterwards that, yes, their facility just tried to kill her, and no, it wasn't their doing. Fat chance.

Absolute best case, as he sees it? He'd have managed to get through the mechs and to Shepard's room. Barricade them in, let Miranda and the rest of security deal with the mechs while he kept the sleeping beauty safe. When the smoke clears, Miranda and the Illusive Man can wake Shepard at their leisure, according to a no doubt very well-calculated plan guaranteeing loyalty.

But this? Her stumbling across him in the halls, him being her one source of info? That's good too. Not perfect, but workable. He doesn't have to pretend. He's a soldier, she sees that. They're killing enemies together. It creates a bond. She wont shoot him, not in the back and not while they're being attacked.

And he won't shoot her. Problem is, he can tell she's not entirely convinced of that. He can see her point. He doesn't know much about how her personality and memories were reconstructed, but her brain's bound to be a jumble of sensations and impressions, all running entirely unchecked. She doesn't know anything, doesn't understand anything. Her friend or foe system is running entirely on human/not-human, shooting/not-shooting.

She doesn't trust. They know trust is a big hurdle. Miranda and the Illusive Man know she's never going to trust them. To them, trust isn't a requirement, as long as she cooperates.

But Jacob's a soldier. Soldiers know trust. They're not getting out of here without it.

Still, he hesitates. His conscience is warring with his logics. He doesn't have said degree in psychology. He doesn't have in-depth understanding of her psyche. He thinks telling her they're with Cerberus will give her a chance to work it out in her head. They'll be condition orange, downgraded from condition yellow. But she still wouldn't shoot them. They'd have been honest with her. Not fooling her, not lying to her. Trustable. It's the right thing to do.

But on the other hand, he's not the best guy to handle the fallout if she doesn't work it out in her head. If she does decide being Cerberus makes him and everyone else an enemy, same as the mechs. Besides, Miranda and the Illusive Man might take offence to him interfering with their well-calculated plan. He's not paid to think, after all. He's paid to shoot stuff.

Decision made. He stays silent, directing Shepard and Wilson towards the shuttle, hoping Miranda can come take his charge off his hands before she blows up like a mine. They fight their ways through the entire army of mechs that Jacob, until today, had been using to secure the facility against direct assault. They were supposed to be able to stop a platoon. They're not stopping Shepard. Jacob knew they brought her back because she's a symbol of humanity. But now he knows the legend is real.

That Miranda is the one to ruin the situation is ironic in retrospect. She shoots Wilson in cold blood. Jacob's not convinced he's guilty, but he's not convinced he's innocent, either. It's Miranda's call.

Problem is, Shepard's not convinced. At all. Far as she's concerned, Miranda is now condition red. And Jacob's leaning against cover, cursing Miranda's direct intervention style. Miranda is in cover against the wall inside the shuttlebay. Shepard's in cover inside the airlock, on the opposite side of Miranda, the first place she could find after Miranda returned fire. Jacob's outside the airlock, behind her, on her other side. He's got her flanked. He could break cover and shoot her. He probably should. First chance she gets, she's going to kill Miranda. And then, probably him.

Wilson's corpse is cooling on the ground between them.

"Shepard." Miranda's voice is cool but strained. "We didn't bring you back just to kill you again. You are far too valuable. We need your help."

The asking for help part is a good touch, Jacob thinks.

"Who the hell are you people? Why did you shoot him?"

"He was trying to kill you. He's the one that reprogrammed the mechs."

It's probably not working. And a moment later, Shepard confirms Jacob's suspicions.

"How convenient that he's dead, now I can't ask him."

"Shepard, please. You have to trust us. I didn't spend two years of my life working on you, only to throw it away now. I have the only way off the facility. Lets go before we're swarmed with mechs."

Jacob shakes his head. Shepard would rather go down fighting. Mechs, she trusts those. They're just trying to kill her. Him and Miranda? She knows they've got plans.

"You're avoiding my question. Who the hell are you?"

There's a beat. Jacob peeks around his cover. Shepard's retreated to the corner where she's further out of range of Miranda, but getting a good LoS on her from Jacob's position is still just a matter of leaning out and opening fire. She'd have to dash straight through both of their lines of fire in order to get out of his sights, and attacking either of them exposes her to the other. They've got her pinned, and she knows it. Logically, talking would be her best choice.

"When we get to our destination, my boss, the Illusive Man – the one who funded the Lazarus Project – will explain everything."

"Illusive Man, huh?"

"Yes!" Miranda practically pounces. "He'll tell you everything you want to know." Jacob shakes his head again. For someone supposedly 'perfect', her interpersonal skills are abysmally low. That wasn't an 'I'm interested, tell me more' huh, that was a 'keep talking, girl, I'm almost done planning my ambush' huh.

Jacob looks at Shepard. She's fiddling with her gun. She's got one glove off, got the piece's maintenance lock open. This is a good opportunity to attack. A really good one. She's defenceless.

He pauses. She already knows she's exposed to him. She's known it this entire time, and been aware that he hasn't opened fire on her. Does she... does she trust him, but not Miranda? It's possible.

"So where would we go?" Shepard asks, deceptively conversational as she works.

"Another one of our facilities." Miranda answers.

"'Our'?" She flips the gun closed. "You know Miranda, I've been having this nagging feeling for a while now. I saw my charts in your work room, and I guess it just took a while to realise."

"What's that, Shepard?" Miranda is beginning to catch on that something is wrong.

"And this symbol? The one you've taken so much care to plaster everywhere. It's been hounding at my memory telling me it's familiar. I've been asking myself, what organisation do I know of that uses science to meddle with things that goes far beyond ethical; that loves experimenting on all kinds of living and dead things? Who would have both the tech and the guts to bring someone back from the dead?"

Miranda is silent. Jacob sees the shit approaching the fan. He takes a breath and holsters his gun, stepping out from his cover. They've got one shot at this. Just one. "Shepard."

She looks at him, a heartbeat's moment of consideration of his actions, then she tosses her gun at him. "Here, catch!"

He does, completely confused. Then swears and darts after her when she takes the corner with a speed she's only hinted at being capable of. She's in Miranda's personal space, body against body, one hand gripping Miranda's wrist, pointing her gun harmlessly out of the way, the other gripping Miranda's throat.

Dammit. Miranda's good, perfect even, at hand to hand. But Shepard is... Shepard. Jacob raises the gun and aims it at her back. He squeezes the trigger. Time stands still for a moment. Then his hand is on fire, his eyebrows are singed and his mind, after a moment, finally registers that the damn thing just blew up in his grip.

He clutches his wrist, looking down at the hand that's mostly broken bones and shredded armour.

Miranda is screaming, there's a loud thump and a wet crack, and then she is silent. Her body collapses against the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. Jacob backs away as quick as he can, but he's in too much pain.

Shepard picks up Miranda's fallen SMG, stands and takes aim at Jacob. Her stance is parade-demonstration perfect.

"This is for Akuze."

And Jacob's last thought is, this was not how it was supposed to happen.