Perspective 6
Five soldiers were visible from the trio's vantage point, with a sixth on its knees, hands behind its head. They were gathered beside a transport vehicle unlike the one they had passed further up the road. The prisoner was Alliance. Ashley could see that much. Rage and uncertainty filled her as she took careful note of his captors; their armour was unlike any she had seen before, and it had three very distinct, familiar, and unwelcome colors: black, white, and orange. And that logo on their pauldrons.
James reached the conclusion at the same moment she did. "What's Cerberus doing here?"
Cerberus was here?! On Mars?! Why? What could they possibly want with an Alliance…
Her heart jumped into her mouth as she noted the Alliance bodies already lying motionless on the ground and realized what the soldiers were about to do. "They're going to execute him!" She hissed.
Shepard held up a steady hand. "Keep quiet and be ready." he ordered. On the road below them, a Cerberus Operative readied his submachine gun. Shepard crouched behind the rock he'd been using as cover, and shouldered the sniper rifle. Without any warning to either Ashley or Vega, he neatly took the head off of the executioner. The other Operatives scattered for cover as Ashley opened up with her assault rifle. The Marine scrambled up the road towards them, but was gunned down as he passed one of the operatives. Ashley bathed the target's cover in assault rifle rounds, trying to force him back, but was far too late for the escapee.
A line of smoke arced over the Operative's cover and Ashley heard a small explosion. Martian dust scattered into the air, and the man was thrown into the open, where Shepard's deadly aim promptly disposed of him.
Ashley remembered how frenetic a fighter Shepard had been during their hunt for Saren. At the time, his Spectre equipment had outmatched almost everything they had come across, giving him full leeway to wander the battlefield as he saw fit. He had not used a sniper rifle much, that she could recall. He preferred sticking to his shotgun and assault rifle, leaving the position of Sniper in Garrus' more than capable hands.
So when in hell had Shepard become so proficient with the weapon?
Shepard continued with his strategy, displaying emotionless, methodical care as he bombed the Cerberus positions with exploding concussive shots, arcing them over cover to rain down upon Cerberus' base of fire. Every time an Operative stuck his head out, Shepard would remove the target from the battlefield. James was doing what he could, but he was having a harder time keeping up than Ashley was. Neither of them were armed for the long distance turkey-shoot the battle had somehow turned into, and Ashley got the feeling that Shepard was far more comfortable having them stay out of the fight entirely.
The Cerberus Operatives lasted almost forty-five seconds. A short battle, but seconds could stretch to days when one's life was on the line. The last Operative fell to Shepard's well-aimed sniper round, the incendiary upgrade turning his body to ashes. A familiar post-skirmish silence fell across the road, and Ashley allowed her tense muscles to loosen slightly. She let out a long breath, and watched as James did the same, lowering his shotgun and leaning back against his cover.
Yet Shepard did not stop moving. Barely acknowledging the last few seconds' violence, the Commander stowed his sniper rifle and strode down the center of the road. He pulled his pistol as he went, letting it hang loosely from his grip as he approached the bodies. He ignored the dead marines, crouching instead by one of the Cerberus Operatives, examining the armour and weaponry. He pulled a Mattock assault rifle from the dead agent's grasp, exchanging it eagerly for his Avenger. Ashley couldn't help but notice how comfortable Shepard seemed, handling the Cerberus weapon. Through she had never seen a Mattock before, Ashley knew of them. They had popped up once or twice during Alliance skirmishes with Cerberus strike teams. A deadly weapon, which had ended far too many Alliance lives for her to be comfortable seeing it in Shepard's hands at that particular moment.
He had just taken out an entire Cerberus strike team. She tried to remind herself of that, but that same little suspicious voice in the back of her mind pointed out that revealing himself as a Cerberus asset this early would probably do more damage to the organization than losing a few disposable soldiers. No matter how the war played out, both politically and on the battlefield, John Shepard would be at the center of it. A position of influence and importance. Too important to waste by saving the lives of lesser agents. He would be of more use as a mole.
He turned towards him, and her assault rifle twitched, nearly rising. It was a small movement, but Shepard caught it.
"Williams?" he asked. He had stopped dead, and was giving her a long, hard stare.
"What's Cerberus doing here on Mars?" she asked cautiously.
"Good question." His voice was frustratingly blank. Difficult to read.
"You mean you don't know?"
Shepard glanced at the bodies. "I wish I did." There was at least a hint of honest regret. "A little late to ask now." he kept staring, eyes narrowing behind his helmet. "Anything you want to get off your chest, Ash?" the way he said her nickname fired her up immediately. He sounded so …sarcastic. Parodying the gentle pet names they had given each other while chasing Saren. Shepard had been Skipper, and Ash? Well the nickname was a short form of Ashley, but it was the way he had said it, with so much caring and respect and… and love.
Now he had endowed the nickname with a bitter, acerbic edge. She wondered if he was still harboring anger over Horizon, or if it was a sign of his true distain for the Alliance and everything she had stood for.
Yet another layer of guilt began to eat away at her. How badly had she hurt him on Horizon? Had she turned him to Cerberus? Drove him straight into the waiting arms of the Illusive Man? More importantly, with the Reapers ravaging earth, did that really matter now? Personal was not the same as important. And regardless of why, if Shepard was a Cerberus agent it would be disastrous for the entire Alliance. Better that she find out now.
"This is just a little too convenient, Skipper." She replied, trying to match his tone. "You were with Cerberus, and here they are again, on Mars. During the Reaper attack. At the same time we land."
Shepard nudged an Operative's body with his toe. "You think I'd shoot my allies?"
"A sleeper agent might."
The man let out a growl of frustration and started down the road. "I am not having this conversation, Williams. If you're going to be a problem, go back to the shuttle."
"Can we sort this out after?" James asked. "I mean, with the Reapers and everything?"
"Yeah…" Ashley muttered. Shepard had already turned his back on her, and was making his way towards the base.
They encountered another Cerberus fireteam at the facility's gaping entrance. Once again, with the same distinct lack of empathy, the Commander methodically eliminated each Operative one by one until he slid his Omniblade –a weapon Ashley had never seen him use in combat before- through the chest of the last Operative. He dropped the man to the ground and stepped up the ramp, into the gaping maw of the outpost's supply elevator. Ashley confronted him as he closed the airlock door. She knew it would take a minute for the airlock to pressurize, and she planned to use every second.
"I need a straight answer, Shepard."
"Ash…" he groaned, putting his hand on his forehead.
"Look, don't you 'Ash' me. Do you know about this? What is Cerberus doing here? Are you one of them?"
Shepard turned to confront her directly. "What makes you think I know what they're up to? And no. I'm not one of them. Not anymore."
"You worked for them. How am I supposed to believe you've just… just…" she threw her hands up in the air. "Just cut all ties? Ended it?"
The way he stiffened told her he was hiding something. Shepard had always been a terrible liar. He'd clearly had some practice, but not enough to slip by her. It was the way he froze up, trying to look natural while actually carefully monitoring his own movements. He had made the same motions after Kaidan had died. Every time she had tried to pry and comfort him. They had been a very close couple, and it was one of the rare occasions when he had not shared his thoughts with her. Back then, Ashley had understood the reason for his distance; on Virmire, he had chosen her because of their relationship. He had left Kaidan with the bomb, and put their entire mission at risk to save her. Having her present and participative during the mourning period that followed had only twisted the proverbial knife. It had been one of the major problems they'd been forced to confront and overcome as a couple.
And now? she still knew, or at least suspected the reason. But he was unreadable. He wouldn't be acting that way unless had had something to hide. The old Skipper would have been doing everything in his power to reconcile. He would have been telling her the whole story, explaining his actions. He would have touched her, or at least held her hand, or… or something! He wouldn't be this distant!
"I worked with Cerberus to take down the Collectors." He explained shortly. "That's it."
Ashley shook her head and turned away, leaning against the elevator's railings. "They rebuilt you from scratch. Gave you a ship. Resources…"
"Let me be clear, Ashley." Shepard moved forward and for a moment, she thought he was going to take her hand, but instead he just joined her at the railing, leaning in aggressively. "I have had no contact with Cerberus since Bahak."
He sounded genuine, yet there was an undeniably personal and bitter undertone to the statement. He continued regardless. "I have no idea why they're here now, or what they want with this facility."
"Commander Shepard's been under constant surveillance since coming back to Earth." James supplied. "No way they've communicated since. We would have caught it."
Ashley relaxed, feeling more reassured by James steady confidence than by anything Shepard had said. An alarm sounded, and the ambient red light of the airlock switched to green, signifying that it was safe for the team to remove their helmets. Which all three of them did. Ashley's hair caused her a little trouble. There was a reason she had kept it short and neat before. Long hair looked good, but it interfered horribly with her helmet seal. He embarrassment was further compounded by Shepard's short-tempered reprimand.
"You want to hate Cerberus? Fine. But I am done explaining myself to you."
The elevator shook and rumbled as it rose, carrying them into the cargo bay of the Mars research outpost.
"We clear, Williams?" he barked coldly.
"Yes sir." She replied through gritted teeth.