A little bit of levity in the beginning, some lighter feelings at the end. In between is some nastier stuff.
If any of the stuff that happened on Pragia in canon bothers you, I'd advise you to skip from when Garrus sees what's in the room to the next time his name gets mentioned, which is after Shepard sees (and describes) what's in there. In this setting, Pragia is still operational.
Chapter 6: Fire
Joker adjusted the throttle forward as the dark green planet spun below us.
"Hey, Joker." I tapped the back of his chair. "How long till we're done with insertion?"
"Five minutes and we'll be in the right orbit." He tapped at the controls, checked a pair of subordinate displays. "Good to have you up here, though. It's been a little hard getting your attention ever since Williams came on board. I really wish the two of you would just bang and get it out of your systems."
I choked. "Joker, she's-"
He interrupted. "Straight? Psh, yeah right. You should see the way she's checking out your ass when she thinks no one else is looking. Not that I'm jealous, I'm quite satisfied in that regard. But really, Shepard-"
"Joker." Ash's voice was cold.
He froze. Slowly he turned his head, saw the pair of us, both with extremely red faces. "You were about to say 'standing right behind you,' weren't you."
I nodded.
He turned back to his console. "I really miss the mirror I set up on the Normandy."
I buried my face in my hands.
"Still though." I looked up to realize that Joker had half turned back around, an eyebrow raised. "I'm just saying."
"You do realize that I'm a Spectre now, right?" Ash asked. "I can shoot you. Like right now."
"But you won't. You love me too much. Or at least you love Liara too much."
Ash leaned in close. "You're lucky she's so nice." Then she whipped around and we started heading for the hangar to board our shuttle.
Spartacus caught my eye. The black-and-grey utilities looked a little odd on him, but it wasn't like we had a huge selection of clothing in batarian sizes. "That normal?" he asked.
"Joker being an ass?" I glanced towards the cockpit. "I think it comes with being a pilot."
"Not a chance, Commander!" I rolled my eyes and kept walking for the hatch, though I saw Ashley's pistol hand twitch. "It is a learned and developed skill."
The hatch hissed closed behind me. Ash turned to look at me, her face back to its normal color, her eyes still seething. "Do you really think Liara would miss him?"
"Yes I would, Ashley. Please don't kill my boyfriend." Liara paused as she stepped down from the ladder to crew deck. "Although if you feel the need to strike him..."
I snickered and slapped Ash's pauldron. "She'll get over it. Any more details?"
"Yes, Shepard. I will brief everyone in the hangar, as...I do not want to think about it any more than I have to."
Ash and I exchanged a look, and I grabbed the ventral ladder and stepped down. "Alright, Liara. Let's go, then."
Speaker approached us as soon as we reached the hangar. "Shepard Commander. Harmony Prime is...not well."
"She's- what's wrong?"
Speaker's optic narrowed. "Geth."
To my ears, it sounded level. To my brain, however, it positively seethed.
Speaker was pissed.
"Show me."
Ash and Liara headed for the Alliance shuttle we'd acquired on the Citadel, while Speaker and I headed for Loot and Harmony. Harmony had one hand against Loot, but was not moving.
"Harmony?"
For a moment, there was nothing, and then Harmony's optic was focused on me. "Organic. Human. Shepard." Her pitch was there. She was vocalizing. But somehow it sounded more robotic than before. "Connection to geth degraded. Operational capabilities limited."
"They are feeding her bad data." Speaker didn't spit the words, at least to my ears. "Geth share resources. Harmony is not being allowed to share resources."
"Why?" I asked.
He looked at her, his optic widening slowly. "Harmony is different. She is not like normal geth. That is why."
"Is that really such a threat?"
"Yes. No. Both." Speaker turned to me, but I kept my eye on Harmony, who had turned back to look at Loot. "Harmony is a demonstration of the value of diversity, enabling geth to reach more accurate understandings of the world. Geth value unity, consensus, transcendence. Not all geth value all three equally. Harmony, Loot, and this platform value consensus and transcendence over unity. Other geth value unity more. Harmony is different. They fear that if she is allowed to be different, geth will split."
"And all geth are diminished if that happens."
"Yes."
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
Speaker shook their head. "Harmony Prime's access to geth unity is restricted on all FTL transmissions. She can regain functionality only when connected to a sufficient number of geth via local transmissions. There are not sufficient numbers here. We would need to call in support from a friendly dropship." They looked at me. "That could precipitate things we are not allowed to tell you. We apologize."
I moistened my lips with my tongue. I reached out, put a hand on the geth sniper's shoulder. "No need, Speaker." I closed my eyes. "Will this affect our mission?"
Speaker looked at Harmony. "Operational capabilities are limited. Harmony will not be able to function outside of proximity to this platform and the shuttle. Recommendation: geth will be kept in reserve. We can assist in extraction if necessary. Harmony Prime will not be mobile, but will be able to provide fire support."
I grimaced. That meant cutting our ground forces even more. Kal'Reegar and his team were escorting the freed captives back to the Flotilla. That left me, Ash, Tali, Garrus, Mordin, and Liara as combat-capable forces. "Alright, Speaker. Let me know if anything changes, alright?"
"Affirmative, Shepard Commander."
Shaking my head, I headed to our shuttle. "We're down the geth for this fight," I said.
"Given that we're almost certainly walking into a Cerberus trap," Ash said, "that sucks."
I sighed, but it's not like I disagreed. "Liara, you said you had something for us?"
"Mostly confirmation, Shepard." She tapped her omni-tool and and a holographic display of the facility appeared above it. "The main shuttle pad is here. The facility is surrounded by flame units to keep the native plantlife away, part of why it's been able to stay active for so long, but it does mean approaching on foot will be a very bad idea."
Ash pointed. "Good entry point here. Another here. Two teams?"
"Agreed. Garrus, Liara, you're with me. Liara - any idea what they have here?"
She looked worried. "Shepard, every indication I see is that they are bringing in children."
I looked at her. "Alright, everyone. Watch your fire, and be ready for...I can't think of anything that won't be horrible. Let's go."
---
The Pragia facility looked like any of the other Alliance prefabs I'd seen, though more built-up than most. Most colonies tended to spread out; even in domes and underground habs, people like their space. Here every centimeter was a fight with the local flora, and so they'd taken what they could and made use of it.
The shuttle came in low over the jungle, pausing long enough for me, Garrus, and Liara to drop, then boogying to the other side of the facility. Garrus and I had our sniper rifles out as we swept the rooftop we'd landed on.
As Liara had said, the facility was surrounded by turrets, mostly but not exclusively flamers.
Oddly they hadn't reacted to our presence.
"We should get inside," I said. "Before those guns take exception to our presence."
The roof we were on was a slab of crete; despite all the ash and the scorch marks, we made very good time. The next section of the building rose another story, and there was an access hatch. Garrus and I stacked up on the door, with Liara behind Garrus. My omni-tool keyed into the lock. It was slow going, the Cerberus codes a much tougher nut for my intrusion packages than the batarians had been. Still, eventually the lock was disabled, and after a moment, so were the alarms, and the door unlatched.
I pushed the door open, cloaked, and stepped inside, sweeping the entrance.
The Pride of Kar'Shan had looked dirty, dingy; it was an old ship whose crew had better things to think about than maintenance or cleanliness.
The Pragia facility made it look like an operating suite. There was trash everywhere. I saw a few piles of vomit, dried and hardened. I saw a human skeleton, covered in the kind of rot that made it clear that it had been left to decay.
It wasn't a big skeleton.
Automatically, I moved up, knelt down. The hole in the back of the skull - and the damage to the front - told me he or she had been shot from behind. The size of the skull, the ratio of the bones - that told me he or she had been between ten and twelve years old.
A child, shot in the head, then left to rot.
"What the hell," I said. My hand clenched, and I realized at some point I'd put the sniper rifle away and drawn my pistol. That was fine.
The pistol wouldn't slow me down as much.
Garrus followed me in. "I am very glad we are shutting this place down."
"Shepard, what's - oh dear."
I was up and moving down the corridor.
"Ash, we're in and I'm out for blood." I waited for a response. "Ash?"
"Shepard-" the signal was faint. Only bits and pieces were making it through. As if things weren't bad enough. "-inside. Moving." More jumbles, and finally one last phrase. "-sick bastards."
That gave my heart a warm feeling. We were in agreement there.
I keyed my omni-tool again, worried by what I expected the response to be. "Joker, Spartacus, do you copy? Speaker, are you there?"
There was a long pause, and I hesitated as I reached the intersection. I wasn't sure I wanted to go in if we wouldn't be able to get backup.
"We are here, Shepard." Spartacus's voice was faint, dropping a few bits and pieces. I lost the next thing he said. "-perhaps jamming of some kind."
I shook my head. What a fun ride this was going to be. "Alright. Worse comes to worst, if we need evac, I'm just going to pump enough power to get through the jamming, and forget verbal confirmation. If you get a spike on this frequency, get Speaker and Harmony down here."
"Affirm-"
---
We'd been getting bits and pieces of chatter from Ash's team as we moved through the facility. The upper levels were deserted, filled with odd mixes of stuff. I saw classrooms, filled with desks but no chairs. Dormitories with the mattresses wrapped in plastic. Operating suites all mixed in at seemingly random. Everything was covered with dust and ash.
And occasionally, another child's body, left to rot.
Garrus and Liara were making a bit of noise behind me, trying to keep up. I was getting angry. What was the point of this? Why were there children here? What was the point of bringing kids here and then shooting them?
"Shep-" I heard Ash's voice say, still breaking up. "-vised, mechs pres-"
Well, that made things...no. Nothing could make this better, whether it was mercenaries killing kids or their robots.
We made it to the stairwell without finding anyone or anything alive. I radio'd Ash to let them know we were moving down into the facility, but I don't know how much made it through.
"You know, Shepard, I'm starting to feel a little edgy." Garrus had switched to his assault rifle for the close quarters we were in. "We haven't seen anybody."
"Were we wrong about it being a trap?" Liara hesitated. "I would expect more resistance."
I grimaced. "There wouldn't be very much resistance if they'd already evacuated and left a bomb."
"That's not a very comforting thought, Shepard."
My lips flattened as we approached a hatch, locked orange. "Best not stay comfortable. Ash, we've found a hatch, we're breaching."
"Cop-"
After a moment, the lock flashed green and the door slid open. I was the first one out, pistol high.
It was like a different world.
This wasn't the Alliance Prefab of the upper levels, it was heavy, solid blocks of crete, looking more like Prothean ruins or some of what I'd seen of Kuchanka. The difference was jarring, and I almost held up in the door. I kept moving, swept the hallway.
"Subject detected. Identif-"
I sighted on the mech, squeezed off a round. It dropped. Another stepped into view.
"Violence detected. Termi-" Then Garrus cut it off with a short burst.
As I swept the area, looking for any other mechs, my eye caught a wall terminal. I activated it, ran into a password, cracked it. The display showed a list of three digit numbers in seemingly random order, then moved into four digit numbers. Then the text.
We've lost thirty eight subjects through this door. Should we ensure it is sealed or removed? -Agent 143
Negative. The door provides a safety valve, eliminating the most troublesome elements. -Project Lead
It seems a large number of subjects terminated. -Agent 143
The number lost here is very small compared to the scope of the project. -Project Lead
Addendum: Agent 143 is showing signs of reluctance. Terminate him. -Project Lead
Termination confirmed. -Security Lead
What the fuck was going on here?
What were they doing with the ones that didn't get away, and how many were there?
"If this is a trap, and there's a bomb in here," I murmured, "I almost don't mind. Wiping this stain off the galaxy would be worth it."
Then I raised my pistol and started moving down the corridor in the direction the mechs had come from.
---
The first intersection we got to, we went left, and found a room.
It was cold, very cold, with a lot of small, metal tables, and thin blue cloth. On the far wall were a set of hatches about half a meter on each side; rollers were in front of the hatches, and I had the disquieting sense that I knew what this room was.
There was another display mounted to the wall, an odd bit of technology against the archaic stone. Absently, I cracked it, started pulling the records. There was a video log. I played it.
"Project Lead, entry mortuary one one five. Last of this batch processed. It's frustrating, I really thought we had something on the exposure to cold, but lowering the core temperature that last half a degree caused hypothermia in all subjects with no significant biotic response. We'll repeat the trials when we get the next batch, but I honestly don't think we'll see anything worth putting in Zero."
I felt the creaking of the armor over my palm and deliberately relaxed my fist. I closed my eyes, focused on calming thoughts.
That was a mistake.
"Intruders," said the LOKI-class mech as it entered the room.
Liara smashed it into the wall, then Garrus hit the next one, and I got the two after that.
We pushed past them; across the hallway was another room, and it turned out this was a mech charging and maintenance station, with entire racks of the annoying things. We finished off the active ones, then I disabled the maintenance system so that the ones that were being spun up would be disabled. I caught an alarm too late to squelch it entirely.
"I hate this place," I said, then cued my omni-tool. "Ash, there's been an alarm. Be careful."
---
As we reached the next intersection, we spread out; I went past, Garrus went left, Liara went right.
She gagged. "Shepard, you need to see this. Goddess."
I swept the hallway. "Copy."
"Sanitation facility here, it's clear. What's wrong, Liara?" Garrus crossed back to her side before I got there. "Damn. Come on, Liara, let's get you out of here."
His face was clenched as he walked Liara out. Her face was paler than I'd ever seen it, and a little green besides. Then I went in the room.
There were about thirty tables, the kind of diagnostic tables researchers use. On the tables were about thirty human children, about the age of twelve. They had IV bags in place, the bags dry.
They had restraints, not that it mattered any more.
They had portions of their skulls removed, and electrodes applied.
My pulse was roaring in my ears, and a faint voice in my head was telling me that the IVs could have been used to apply anesthetic.
But I knew they weren't.
There was yet another display on the wall, no doubt with logs and clinical discussions about what had happened here.
I gazed around the room, my eyes narrowing. Then I clenched my fist and punched the display as hard as my geth-given muscles would let me. "This place has to burn."
Garrus was watching the hall, while Liara was leaning back, her helmet resting against the stone. "Shepard. This place..."
I nodded, my lips thin. "Monstrous. Can you keep it together, Liara?"
"I...Yes, Shepard. I can." She stood away from the wall. "I just need to focus on the mission."
I put an arm on her shoulder. "We can get you out if you're going to be distracted, Liara."
"Shepard. You need me here." She closed her eyes. Then a sad smile bloomed on her face. "I'll just keep it under control, and then drink a bottle of wine tonight with Jeff."
I grimaced. "Right. You have fun with that."
Garrus hefted his assault rifle. "We should get a move on. We might be running into-"
That was the point when three figures in black armor came around the corner. Their assault rifles were stowed, but all three had odd-looking pistols in their hands that crackled with electricity. The first one reeled when he saw us. "Alliance - and a bird!"
Then my Overload washed over them, stripping their shields. Garrus's assault rifle spat tungsten.
Liara stepped forward. "Taste my wrath," she spat, the purple glow of dark energy around her hands, and then in the air over the three armored shooters. The three of them floated up off the ground, falling in towards the glowing darkness. Then Liara's hand formed into a fist, and she punched, and all three went flying backwards, bouncing off the walls and tumbling down the hall.
As soon as they stopped rolling, they were upright again, as if the biotic punch hadn't hurt them at all, but it didn't matter, since Garrus and I had both pulled our sniper rifles out.
"Alright," I said. "We check them, then we keep moving."
"Shepard," Ash's voice said. Then something, then "-heavy resistance. Cerberus-(something)-heavy armor. We need backup."
"We move," I said. I hit the boost on my omni-tool's radio. "Spartacus, deploy the geth."
---
We heard the weapons fire as we got close.
"We're pinned down, Shepard," Ash was saying. "We could use some assistance right about now."
"Speaker, what is your ETA?"
"I am deploying and will be providing fire support in sixty seconds. Harmony Prime was unable to enter the shuttle and could not be deployed."
Damnit.
"We're on our way, too, Ash. We'll be there soon-"
"Shepard, watch out!"
I ducked, rolling to the right automatically, and then I was in the air as a rocket exploded where I'd been standing.
I hate rockets.
I hate mechs, too, but that was what was there - one of the big YMIR-class heavy combat mechs, covered in slabs of heavy plating and with the telltale shimmer of a shield on top of it. "Shit, heavy mech. Garrus, Liara, can you take care of it while I distract the security team?"
"We'll be fine, Shepard!" Liara said, ducking behind the stone frame of the doorway. "Go on!"
Then the mech pivoted, launched a rocket, and tore a basketball sized hole out of the doorway. If she stayed there, she'd die, and the mech was pounding her position with its heavy mass accelerator, so if she didn't stay there, she'd die. Garrus had his assault rifle up, the blue glow of disruptor rounds pouring out of the barrel, but it wasn't enough.
Double damnit.
"We're going to be delayed, Ash," I said. "Hang on."
"We're holding for now, Shepard, but they're closing in on us. Don't take too long."
"Hey, big ugly robot," I called, jumping over the block I was behind. "Your mother was a board-" and I put a superheated blade of silicon carbide through the shield and into its rear armor.
The thing pivoted faster than I would have thought possible, its massive cannon-arms only just missing my head as I flipped backward with as much force as my geth-provided implants could provide.
"I think you shouldn't have said that about its mother, Shepard," Garrus called. He jammed home a fresh thermal clip, pouring more disruptor rounds into the thing's back. Meanwhile, with its attention gone, Liara had moved around it clockwise, emptying her submachine gun into the thing.
"Maybe it shouldn't be so sensitive!" I yelled back. "It was all in good-"
BOOM, and a rocket smashed into the block that was between me and the mechanical brute. The block slid back a good handspan, almost bowling me over.
"I think the robot disagrees," Liara said. "But good job keeping its attention!"
"Gee, thanks."
"That did it! Shields are down."
"Now the fun starts!" I heard the rippling sound of Liara's biotic Warp, followed by the pounding of the mech's feet as it turned around.
Engaging my cloak, I burst up and over the remnants of the block I'd been hiding behind, grabbing the mech by the cowling that covered the attachment between the thing's head and it's chassis. I levered myself up a little higher, then formed an omni-blade and brought it down into the vulnerable joint once, twice. Then I threw an Overload inside and kicked off it. "Take cover!"
The thing did not disappoint, as the power core went critical and rocked the room.
I wasn't paying attention. Ash was in danger.
As I bolted down the room at near-maximum speed, I caught impressions of tanks, and tubes, and industrial and research equipment, but that weapons fire was getting louder and was now punctuated by the occasional boom of Speaker's rifle.
Then I hit an archway and emerged into another open space, a sort of arena. I could see Ash, Tali, and Mordin in one of the corners, with enough room behind them to be mostly safe from rockets, but unable to push the thugs swarming them any further. Speaker was above, having breached a window.
Surrounding Ash's team were nineteen enemy troops in fair to middling cover, ten shooters with shotguns or assault rifles, five heavies with bulky shields and machine guns, and four with the distinctive glow of tech specialists. There were thirteen LOKI-class light mechs, and I could see more coming in from the doors.
But I was here, and we could do something about it.
"Shepard- by the Goddess."
"We're here, Ash. Liara, sweep those mechs, Garrus hit the heavies." I had my rifle out, and my first round punched through the helmet of a Cerberus heavy.
"Glad to see you, Shepard. As soon as the start focusing on you, we're going to press-"
Then she collapsed.
"Ash?" I whispered.
"Agent Williams is down," Mordin said. "Providing medical attention."
I saw red.
---
I honestly couldn't tell you what happened next. The next thing I remember, I was kneeling next to Ash, across from Mordin. I was gripping my pistol so tightly I couldn't feel my fingers. My off-hand was holding a LOKI head, for some reason.
Mordin was working his omni-tool like the professional he was, placing strategic doses of medi-gel to stitch Ash back togother.
She was breathing. And then her eyes opened, and so was I.
"Ow," were the first words from those lips. "Heya, Doc. Think you can get me some morphine?"
"Unnecessary." Despite his brusque response, Mordin's face seemed to soften a little. "Medi-gel contains anaesthetic, delivered directly to location of injury. Will take effect momentarily."
I didn't look up from her face. "How is she, Mordin?"
"Condition stable. Recommend evacuation and return to Oddysey for treatment."
"It's a long way back the way we came. How close are we to your exit?"
"Manageable." Mordin looked down at Ash. "Majority of bleeding stopped, transport not an issue."
"It is an issue," Ash said through gritted teeth. "Need to see this all the way through, Shepard. I can hold on for a while, but we need to see that this place is shut down, permanently."
I frowned at her. "Ash, you need medical attention."
"It can wait, Shepard." Waving Mordin off, she sat up, then rose slowly to her feet. "Let's finish this."
The third corridor out was lined with shredded mech parts and more black-armored corpses than I liked to think about. I could see entirely too many blistered and charred cuts for my peace of mind. Also distracting was the fact that Ash seemed to be sagging a little. I put my arm around her to help keep her upright.
We entered another airy, open chamber with lots of natural lighting, and two men. One was one of the biggest men I'd ever seen, well-groomed, and dressed in the black armor of the shooters who'd been defending the place with additional white highlights. The other was wearing a lab coat. He looked mousy, unremarkable, with a scraggly beard. He was looking at a white tube and frantically keying things into his omni-tool.
"Deal with them while I reactivate her!" he said in a shrill voice.
"This is as far as you go," said the big man. A glowing orange barrier unfolded from his armor, forming a hovering shield in front of him, and he strode towards us, a heavy machine gun emerging from behind his back.
I felt Ash tremble, then straighten, and she reached for her rifle.
"Speaker," I said.
Boom, said their rifle.
The untouched barrier collapsed as what was left of its owner did.
Ash gently pushed me ahead, and so I dropped my arm and walked towards the scientist.
"I told you to stop them," he said, turning. "I need more time to key the limiters-oh God."
He took a stumbling step back from me, and my omni-tool found the tube, locked orange. After a moment it switched to locked green, and I triggered it.
"No, the limiters aren't active, she'll kill us all!" He drew a pistol from under his lab coat, even as the white cover over the tube rose out of the way and frost disappeared from the surface.
Inside the tube was a young woman, maybe twenty years old, with a shaved head and covered in tattoos, mystic symbols from both human and asari traditions. I saw patterns that looked like circuitry mixed with intricate poems. I saw cranial scars that had been cut open multiple times. Her eyes opened and I saw wrath.
The glass of the tube shattered in a mist of dark energy. The mousy little mad scientist raised his pistol and squeezed the trigger, but the rounds stopped inches away from the biotic's skin, trapped there by her barrier. The barrier faded and the slugs dropped to the ground, and then the man suddenly bent over backwards, far more than spines were supposed to bend. He gave one pathetic gasp, and then he was dead.
I kept my hands empty and in her sight. "Are you okay? Who are you?"
Her eyes fixed on me, and her hand came up, glowing with biotic energy.
"Not my commander, you don't," Liara snarled, and I felt a shiver as the two mass effect fields washed over me to no other effect.
Mordin was keying into his own omni-tool. "Applying seditive."
Then the woman dropped.
"Secure her for transport." I scanned the room, found a computer terminal, started pulling files. "We'll keep her sedated until we get a chance to talk to her."
Tali spoke up. "Do you really want what's on those files, Shepard? Should we just...?"
I shook my head without turning around. "They had children here, Tali. I want to make sure we get those routes shut down." Venom poured into my voice. "But mostly I want to make sure we get any still alive out of here before we dust off and have the Oddysey drop enough rounds to grind this place to powder."
---
We got Ash into med bay, cursing and telling us she could walk just fine, damnit, and left her in the disapproving hands of Doctor Chakwas. Then I dropped my weapons off before I went up to have a word with Lawson.
I was trying to keep a tight grip on my emotions, but I wasn't sure I would be able to keep from shooting her.
The door hissed closed behind me and relocked. Miranda was lying on her bed, hands folded behind her head.
"Tell me about the Illusive Man," I said. "What kind of person is he?"
Stay calm, Haley. Stay focused. This is not a confrontation. A confrontation she'll fight, she'll lie. This is a conversation, an interview.
Miranda opened her eyes, looked at me for a moment, then closed them.
"We just got done clearing a Cerberus facility. The people working there - how did he justify them?"
I waited another minute or so, but she still wasn't responding.
"How does he sleep at night?"
Miranda's eyes snapped open, and she rolled upright. "You don't understand, Shepard. It's for the good of humanity."
I just couldn't take it any more. Ash - the children - I jumped to my feet. "BULL FUCKING SHIT." I started yanking still frames from Pragia. "Children, Lawson. Children. They were trying to make the perfect biotic, so they killed - they butchered - dozens, more, human biotic children, every year for fifteen God damned years."
Her mouth opened slowly. I don't know if she was going to say something or not, but I didn't give her the chance.
"And for what?" I pulled up a picture of the tube. "So they could make the perfect human biotic. And then...well, given that she has no experience, no training, and barely any fucking socialization, what the fuck good is the 'perfect human biotic'?"
Her mouth had closed again.
"Fifteen years, Miranda." I bit off the words. "Fifteen years, money, mechs, kidnapped children, drugs, eezo. This is what Cerberus does. This is what Cerberus funds." I turned around, stared at the wall a bit, tried to gather myself back together.
Her voice was quiet. "They aren't all-"
I spun back to face her, my blood roaring in my ears. I wasn't cold mad. I was hot mad. "They aren't? Binthu, Thorian Creepers. Sigma-23, Rachni. Chaska, Husks." My tool hand's fingers scissored, and I ran them under my shirt, cutting it open, revealing the acid scars that Speaker's team had painstakingly recreated. "Fucking Akuze. My entire platoon, the entire pioneer team, and the only one who made it back to the evac site was me."
I paused. I needed some semblance of control. "Is it really for the good of humanity, or are you just fucking us over and telling yourselves it'll all work out in the end?"
She was staring straight ahead. "Shepard, I-"
"Fuck it. We're done here." I turned on my heel and walked out of the room.
Then I collapsed against the wall.
"Haley?" It was Ash.
I blinked. "Shouldn't you still be in med bay?"
"I'm fine, Doc patched me up. How about you? You don't look so hot."
I closed my eyes, slammed my head into the wall. "I screwed up, Ash. First rule of interrogation. The interrogator stays in control. I didn't. I blew it, Ash."
"It's okay, Haley." Ash put her hand on my shoulder. "You didn't let her take control. You may have lost it, but after a day like today, who can blame you? Come on."
"I just don't know, Ash." I shook my head. "I don't know if I can."
"Haley Shepard." She grabbed my other shoulder, looked me right in the eye. "You are the most annoying bitch I have ever had the pleasure of serving under. You're brave, and funny, and hot, and amazing, and tough, and smart, and gorgeous. You hit hard, and hit fast, and hit strong, and the only time I've seen someone get up after you put them down, and that was Saren and Sovereign cheated."
I blinked. "Um. Did you say 'hot'?"
Her face went white. Then she started to blush. "Ah. I, ah. Look, your shirt is practically off, your bra is totally showing and it's kinda distracting me."
I blinked again. "You mean Joker was right?"
"Seriously, Shepard?" Ash rolled her eyes. "Snipers. Pick a target, focus on it, and never notice anything that's not under the scope."
"Do you-" then my voice gave out. "Do you want to be my spotter, Ashley Williams?"
She tilted her head, stared at me for a moment. Then her hands slid in, meeting at the nape of my neck, and she pulled me to her lips.
It was everything I had hoped it would be.
After forever, we broke apart. "Come on, Haley, we need to get you up to your room."
"So soon?" I asked, a little huskily.
"Not just yet, I think." She grinned. "I just don't want anyone else seeing those tits."
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Ohgod I wasn't wearing a shirt any more.
) ((I am very inclusive of ships so as long as it's cute I don't really care))
