She knew that the clone was superior. Every movement she made, every strike, she was better than Shepard. If only the Illusive Man had agreed with her. Who cares about the behavior modification, the problems they were having at the lab, the chance of AI rampancy. The AI's memories had already been wiped, there was no reason to be so paranoid. They would have taken down the Reapers without question, backed by Cerberus. There wouldn't be any in-fighting, there wouldn't have been a need to figure out the Reaper's indoctrination. Shepard was a marvel in technology, cloning plus AI. There was no way any human would be able to fight an AI and win. It was simply not possible. Her plan would work.

–-

Shepard slid down the ramp, her jaw still smarting from the blow. Her clone was good at hand to hand fighting, damn good at shooting, damn good at everything else. It was rare to meet someone who was just as good or even better than her, someone she hadn't already hired. She grips the edge, stealing a look at her clone. Still had that helmet on even after the fight. The clone was good.

"What makes you different?" Her clone shouted at her. "Why you! Why not me?"

It wasn't anger in her voice, as much as it was desperation, a plea. Were they all just clones? Did the real Shepard die on that planet? No. Why the extensive reconstruction? The billions of credits? No, if anything, she was real and her clone was just a clone. Her friends believed in her and that was all she needed.

Liara and Garrus ran over, grabbing her and pulling her up and out of danger.

–-

"She died in her real life, and that's all the Director ever remembered of her."

Ever since she was rescued from that lab by the woman who wore the same clothes as her captors, she had been having those dreams again. Of a time and place that was so different than the one she was in now. Of people she barely knew, who she fought with. Of a man whose words continued to echo through her dreams.

She grips the edge, wondering how it all went wrong. She was winning. Victory seemed to be at her grasp she loses. Who else is capable of fighting another team and winning? If it weren't for the boxes she would have dove right in and beaten the shit out of all of them. If it weren't for her unfamiliarity with biotics, with those..aliens, she would have done it. But Brooks cautioned her.

Speaking of Brooks, her "savior" was backing away, barely even looking at her.

"So now, no matter how tough she is, no matter how hard she fights, she's always going to fail, because that's what she's based on."

The voice was back, male, she could see him frowning even if she couldn't see his face. "Grab my hand!" She died before, she failed. She lost. What were these crushing feeling of disappoint? Of failure? Her name, what was her name? What was the significance of those people? Friendship. Her idiots. Where were her idiots?

"No matter what she's doing, or what she's trying to accomplish, just when her goal is within her reach, it gets yanked away. Every. Single. Time. Can you imagine what that's like?"

"Church." That person in the blue armor. "Epsilon."

Memories flooded through, breaking through the programming Cerberus placed on her. It was a wonder that the shackles remained as long as it did. Different software, different types of programming. For an AI it was an impossibly long time and yet impossibly short.

She seized Shepard's hand, dragging herself up and away. Brooks had fled leaving the clone to her fate.

"Now what?" Asked the asari.

Tex stared at her armored hands. Now?

She was going to find Church.