"Sit there."

"Are you going to tie me to this one too?" Miranda shot her a look over her shoulder and Ashley snapped her mouth shut, sighing. "I...shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry."

"You're apologizing?"

"Surprisingly."

Miranda looked like she was smiling. Almost smiling. Ash didn't get it, but she wasn't going to complain. "Roll up your sleeve. I want to run your blood through the systems here. The abnormalities would've been flagged before they shipped you off."

Ashley just did as she was told, setting her arm out on her lap while Miranda finished up with what she was doing. They were in the infirmary, separated from the rest of the abandoned Cerberus facility they now occupied. Shepard was still working with some of the locals and the Normandy's crew to get all the systems up and running; certain rooms got power first, like the ward and the server room.

"How can you work for something like Cerberus?"

Miranda didn't answer. Instead, she turned and held Ashley's arm up by the wrist, sticking the needle into the inside of her elbow. Only when she had a small vial of her blood stuck in the medical equipment did she turn back around.

"Cerberus has kept me safe from a life I never wanted," she said. "With the way I was designed—"

"Designed?"

"I have countless genetic enhancements," she said dismissively, waving it aside for emphasis. "But when I came to Cerberus, it was a mutually beneficial arrangement, and the Illusive Man has put me to work on most of our more...difficult projects."

Ashley's brows furrowed. "That explains Shepard."

"If you're trying to ask why the Illusive Man brought you back too, I don't have any answers for you," Miranda said. "He kept you a secret from me. I didn't know you were being transfered to the Lazarus Project until you were already on the station."

"I thought you were his second," Ashley said.

"But at the end of the day, he's in charge, and I'm not."

"You have to have some idea."

The computer beeped and the Cerberus officer turned away, focusing on the test results. "You would think he'd have this on file..."

"What?"

"The results," Miranda said. "There's obvious evidence of the Alliance's standard genetic enhancements, but..." She hit a few keys and stepped aside. "Blood cells don't look like that."

Ashley leapt to her feet to get a better view. "Jesus."

When Miranda said the blood cells were deformed, Ashley was not expecting that. Purple, distorted...looking like they had little veins running over their surface. Seeing it reminded her of husks.

"When you were recovered from Virmire, you were found near Reaper tech."

"Yeah, Shepard said as much."

"You don't remember it?"

A sardonic smile tugged at her lips as she watched the blood cells on the screen. "I was trying to find a way to not get blown up. I might've been willing to die, but that doesn't mean I wanted to. I just... Priorities." She shrugged. "Getting Shepard and the ship to safety was the first. Getting rid of Saren's facility was the second. Once I knew I had the chance...I ran." She shrugged again, forcing her eyes off the monitor to Miranda's. "I don't remember much after that, even with my memories. I'm not sure I'd want to, either."

"Fair enough," Miranda said. For a few minutes, both of them mutely watched the screen. Ashley was disgusted. Miranda...she didn't know what was going through the woman's head. All of her memories told her that the Cerberus agent wasn't trustworthy, hated her, and that she was nearing the fanatical point of devotion to her employer. But over the last few days of sitting and ransacking this facility, Miranda had almost been...friendly. Well, not quite, but she was less vocal about her faith in Cerberus.

"You should find Shepard." Miranda nodded at the door. "I'll send this back to the ship for further analysis. I imagine you have words for him and the others."

Ashley felt herself nodding even though she wanted to remain in the infirmary. Seeing what was inside of her was oddly enticing, and not in a good way. Whatever was wrong with her wasn't Cerberus' fault, but the Reapers' genetic mutation. Cerberus just grabbed her and went from there, reviving and shaping a damaged mind.

"If you find anything even weirder than that, I want to hear about it."

"You will."

"Then I guess I'll be going," she said, glancing around the room one last time. "And Miranda?" She looked up from her computer. "Thanks."

"Don't go getting soft on us now, Williams."

"I can still drill you at a hundred yards."

"Good to know."

That said, Ashley turned for the door and marched out into the hallway. It was dark enough she needed a flashlight, but after the walk down here, Ash was confident in her knowledge of the layout. Regardless, she still pulled out the small light in her pocket and clicked it on before heading back up to the main complex. The direction opposite of the one she went in led deeper into Cerberus' facility, areas of the tunnels and base she'd never been to. Briefly, just briefly, she considered turning around and checking it out, but she dismissed the thought. Getting the base up and running was Shepard's priority, so it was hers, even if there was a human colony out there that potentially needed their help.

She jogged up a flight of stairs to the makeshift crew quarters they were using. Bedding had been dropped from the ship and set up in the room; as she passed, Garrus flashed her a turian's version of a grin. He was on the floor, listening to Jacob's explanation of blackjack while Zaeed called them boring pansies. Damn merc. Ash was still trying to figure out why Shepard picked him up on Omega.

Jack barely spared her a glance as she strode out into the storage room, but she heard the biotic follow her. The motion activated door slid shut behind them as Jack jogged to catch up.

"Smash her face in?"

Ash gave her a sideways look, but kept walking. "No."

"Shit, princess. That's not any fun."

"I told you to stop calling me that."

Jack shrugged. "Whatever, princess. Not my problem."

"Are you trying to piss me off?"

"See you lose that pretty head of yours? Yeah. So what?"

Ashley groaned and ran a hand down her face, shaking her head. "Leave me alone, okay? I'm busy."

"Whatever," Jack repeated. "Do yourself a favor, princess, and get that stick outta your ass." Then the biotic left her standing there, heading off one of the subbranches to God only knows where. If she wanted to think about it, she could probably figure out where she was headed, but she didn't care either. Instead, she just continued her walk up towards the reactor room. Aside from their sleeping quarters and the med bay, the reactor room was the only one that was really powered. The rest of the facility was either as dark as it was underground, or it was lit by windows.

After shoving the door back into the wall, Ashley climbed another set of stairs, and jammed her finger into the lock. It hissee open without fuss, and then she saw Shepard, conversing with someone she didn't recognize.

Her hand cautiously drifted towards the handgun on her hip. This was the first she'd seen of the locals, humans apparently, as the Commander didn't want her roaming the planet alone. Had he been all right with it, Ash would've probably already left to see what else was out there. Then again, she might've run into the colonists, and that could've been...awkward.

"...can send a few engineers later in the week," the man said as she joined them. "We can't spare any of our men while the systems are being installed."

"That's fine," Shepard said, sighing. "I understand. The colonists come first. And if our intel is any good..."

"We'll be needing those defense systems," he finished.

"Exactly."

She stopped next to Shepard, frowning at the stranger's uniform. Blue and black, dirty, informal. "You're in the Alliance."

Shepard's head whipped around to her, but the marine only smiled and nodded. "Yes ma'am. The Navy is trying to extend some safety to our colonists in the Terminus Systems."

"Terminus Systems?" Ashley glanced at Shepard out of the corner of her eye. "What planet are we on?"

"Horizon, ma'am," the marine said. "Staff Commander Alenko is heading a garrison force tasked with the defense of the colony."

Her jaw nearly dropped and her head whipped to face Shepard. "We're on Horizon?"

The Commander nodded grimly. "Think there was a reason the Illusive Man wanted us to get here so badly? He probably wanted the data stored in this base, and he can't exactly get to it with Collectors crawling all over the planet."

"Makes sense."

"Painfully so," Shepard agreed. He returned his attention to the marine. "Head back out to your truck. Williams and I will head back to the colony with you in a few minutes."

The marine stood at attention. "Yes sir!"

Once he was gone, she turned her gaze on Shepard, brows going up. "All right, you got me. Very funny, saying you'll bring me."

"I'm sorry?"

"You can't be serious. You've spent the last few days keeping me inside, but now you're going to let me run free when Scuttlebutt's here?"

He grinned, much to her irritation. "There she is."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "I don't get you, Shepard."

"Nothing to get, Ash," he said. "I think it'll be good for the both of you. Kaidan hated seeing you locked up in that room and you need some fresh air before you blow a gasket."

"Wait...Kaidan was here?"

Shepard nodded, folding his arms over his chest. "He was the first one to talk when you woke up. He helped us find the place."

"Can't imagine he was happy to see me."

"Couldn't say for sure," Shepard replied, heading for the door. Ashley followed him, falling in on what she realized had been her usual place to his right. "Kaidan's a private man, and after showing up in a Cerberus vessel, he's probably annoyed with me just as much as he's shocked about you."

"Annoyed? That's downplaying it a bit, isn't it?"

"Nope. The Alliance has reports on me being with Cerberus, not you. He's 'officially' here to help with the GARDIAN defenses, but Alliance command got word the Normandy might show up here, and Kaidan was relocated with a squad to hold Horizon."

"A lone squad isn't going to be much use against a whole ship of Collectors."

"Then we better hope we get those guns online before they show up, yeah?"

She nodded, stopping beside him when he reached the door to his private quarters. "Sir?"

"I'm not bringing you for a cakewalk, Williams," he said. "I've read the reports on your training here and at Lazarus. Advanced combat exposure and tech training. Brain activity off the charts, able to solve puzzles most geniuses can't get."

She scratched the back of her head. "I'm not sure I follow."

"We're going to get those guns online, understand? Today. We're not losing another colony." Ashley nodded. "Better suit up, Ash. With our luck, the bastards will show up while we're there."

"Yes sir."

Just as she turned away, he said, "And Ash?" She paused, waited. "Cut the formal crap. Neither of us are Alliance anymore."

She shot him a grin over her shoulder. "You're still my captain, Shepard."