Persephone was reading when Shepard called her to the armory and she paused for a moment before turning off the datapad and hopping down from the crate she was sitting on, heading up the stairs and taking the elevator down one floor to the shuttle bay. It had been a couple days since she had woken up in James's arms in the Crew Lounge, and while she wasn't avoiding him, she wasn't actively seeking him out, either. She had formed for herself a nice little routine, most her days and nights were spent down in her little area, only venturing out when needed.
Stepping into the shuttle bay, she stopped as she looked at Shepard standing there in front of a few crates pushed together to form a platform, a variety of weapons from heavy pistols to shotguns laid out in front of her.
"Pick your poison." She said, gesturing to the weapons and Persephone gave her a wary look.
"You really want to trust me with a gun, Shepard?" She asked.
"Absolutely. Now, pick your weapon." Shepard said and Persephone approached the makeshift table, looking over the guns. Her memory poked at her that these were all wrong, it's not what she should be using, but she pushed the feeling away. Persephone bypassed the shotguns completely, as well as the submachine guns, and picked up a sniper rifle she instantly recognized as a M-13 Raptor, but somehow knew that she had never used it. It was familiar, though. She checked the sights, noting that it it carried no thermal clip, and set it back down again. The Mattock was next, and like the Raptor it was familiar, but she had never used it. It was also sans thermal clip, all the guns probably were for safety reasons.
Picking up a heavy pistol, she tooked it over and set it aside.
"Okay." She said and Shepard perked an eyebrow at her.
"That's it?" She asked, "Just a pistol? No backup weapon?"
"My biotics are my backup." Persephone said and Shepard have a shrug.
"Fair enough, mine too." She said, "Help me put these back and we'll go onto Phase Two."
"Do I want to know how many "phases" there are?" She asked and the other woman thought for a moment.
"Three, no, four. Maybe five." She said and they put the guns back in the weapon lockers except for the pistol she had chosen, securing them again. They went back over to the table and Shepard brought up her omnitool. "You know what dressing a weapon is?"
"Taking it apart and putting it back together again?" She asked and she nodded.
"You have thirty seconds to dress that Carnifax. Starting...now." She started the countdown her omnitool and Persephone got to work, her mind going blissfully blank until she was done, setting it back on the table. "And you did it in twenty, not bad. N7 quals required fifteen."
"What's Phase Three?" Persephone asked.
"Firing range to test accuracy. There's one on the Citadel that C-Sec has that I got us permission to use, I can't get you into the Spectre range." Shepard said, "We'll be there in about a day."
"What's this all about Shepard?" She asked and the Commander gave her a long look.
"I spoke to Admiral Hackett." She said, "He's a little wary, but ordered that I test your combat skills."
"Are you planning on taking me on missions?" She asked and she gave another shrug.
"Possibly, let's see how you do in the other Phases of your evaluation."
"Phase Four?"
"Hand to hand."
"Phase Five?"
"Phase Five," She gave a small smile, "Phase Five I was thinking about letting you loose in the Armax Arena. There's no substitute for real combat, of course, but they come pretty close. Sound good?"
"I guess so." She said with a shrug and movement caught her eye. Looking around Shepard, she saw James by his station, lying on his work out bench doing sit ups. His shirt was thrown onto a crate and a layer of sweat made his skin shine in the lighting. There was a moment where she just watched the way his abdominal muscles moved under his skin before she caught Shepard giving her a look, a sly smile on her face. "What?"
"Yeah, it's impressive." She admitted, "It's nice to look at as long as you don't touch."
"Please," Persephone said with a rude sound, "I'm pretty sure I've never...touched before and I wouldn't know what to do."
"You really don't remember anything of your life before the facility?"
"I don't remember anything of my life in the facility."
"Fair enough." Shepard said, "I've been having Liara and EDI try to find something about you, but with the war and so many lost or missing…" She let it trail off.
"It's a long shot, I know, but thank you." Persephone said, "The Project started around the time Cerberus revived you, right? That's what EDI told me."
"Yeah, and at that time the Collectors were abducting entire human colonies." Shepard said, "If you were from one of those colonies and then they got hit, there wouldn't be anyone left that would be looking for you."
"So you're stuck with me." Persephone said and Shepard snorted in amusement.
"Looks like."
"Thank you, Shepard." Persephone said, "For everything."
"Don't worry about it, kiddo." She said, reaching out to touch her shoulder, "And we'll find something eventually. Even no intel is good intel."
"Maybe something will come up when we get to the Citadel." Persephone said, "It's an extreme longshot, but maybe someone recognizes me."
"Maybe. I have a few things I need to do down in the refugee area, come with me and we'll see what happens." Shepard said, "There's things I have to do to prepare, see you later?"
"You know where I'll be." Persephone said and she touched her shoulder one last time before leaving the shuttle bay. Her attention was drawn back over to James, seeing that he switched to pull-ups and she watched his back muscles flex and cord. He paused, looking over his shoulder and she looked away quickly, going to the maintenance table with the Carnifax and taking it apart again, going over all of the individual parts and pieces.
"You've been avoiding me." She turned, James now standing behind her still without his shirt, arms crossed over his chest.
"Have not." She objected, copying his stance and he snorted, advancing on her until she backed into the table, his hands going to grip the edges. Warmth emanated from his skin and she curled her fingers around the edge of the table to keep from touching him.
"You're blushing just a little bit."
"Am not." She said, fully aware of the heat in her face. He moved closer, leaning down, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. Persephone suddenly ducked down, darting out from under his arm and going to the elevator, fleeing the shuttle bay quickly. James gave a sigh when she was gone, hanging his head.