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Played	By : Nicker Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 16397 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, nor the characters. I make no profit from this fiction.

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The shuttle touched down lightly on the loading dock platform. A dark-skinned woman, flanked by two soldiers was watching it from the walkway bridge connecting the landing pad to the rest of the complex. As soon as the engines died, the woman, wearing a local company uniform, stepped forward nervously, shifting her weight from one leg onto the other. The shuttle door hissed open and a dark-haired vision stepped out in a white uniform brandishing the Cerberus logo. Even the soldiers let out a quiet gasp and probably even gaped at her behind their helmets.
“Operative Lawson,” the girl stepped forward to greet the newcomer. “My name is Hope... Hope Lilium, I’m your local PoC. We were told you will be coming to supervise the operation.”

Hope felt Miranda Lawson’s cool, blue eyes size her up instantly, probably evaluating her. She spent exactly the right amount of effort acknowledging her, no more, no less. Hope pulled herself straight and presented her a datapad, trying very hard to make a good impression on her idol.
“Thank you,” Miranda Lawson took the datapad and started walking, Hope filing in right behind her left elbow. The Cerberus soldiers snapped to attention when they passed, then fell in line and followed the women into the rusty building. “Talk.” Miranda said and after a moment of hesitation, Hope started to talk.

“The team arrived two days ago. I brought them to the secure location. I sent the message out as soon as we were in place. Captain Stills proceeded with the interrogation of the prisoner, but she didn’t talk... yet.”

“She?” Miranda raised an eyebrow as she finished reading through the datapad.

“Yes, ma’am.”
They reached the elevator and stepped in, descending into the depth of the mining complex.

“How long have you been stationed here, Ms. Lilium?”

“Hope... please,” she smiled, happy for the attention. It was a dull existence being the local Cerberus operative with nothing more to do than to listen in on broadcasts and collecting information. She was glad something finally happened, but she didn’t want to seem too eager. “I’ve been here for four months.”

Miranda shot an empathic glance at her as the elevator car rumbled on downwards.

“My sympathies.”

Hope shrugged. “It’s not that bad... on the upper levels... in the capital,” she admitted as the elevator came to a clunking, shaking halt.
The door rattled open and Captain Stills was waiting there, standing at attention. His face showed surprise for a second, before nodding to the women in greeting. Lawson seemed to have this effect on people, Hope thought, but she didn’t seem to notice it. Probably got used to it by now.

“Welcome, Operative Lawson. I appreciate your attention, but it is unnecessary. I can assure you, we can handle the situation ourselves,” Stills said in greeting, straight to the point, but keeping his tone very polite, business-like. He didn’t show too much respect to Hope, probably because she was a woman, but even he could not ignore Miranda Lawson’s standing in the hierarchy of Cerberus. Here was a woman, who could not be dismissed.
Miranda Lawson, however, seemed to dismiss Captain Stills right away.

“I can assure you, Captain, that you do not have my attention. The Illusive Man on the other hand, noticed that your operation didn’t go smoothly.”

Captain Stills swallowed. You did not want the Illusive Man to notice you if things didn’t go according to plan. There was such a thing as the wrong kind of attention. Especially if he sent one of his best agents to investigate.

They walked across the hall and into a corridor.

“If I may ask, Operative Lawson, what are your instructions?” Stills asked, sulking, opening a door for them.

“Assessment and wrapping up as I see fit,” Miranda replied, shooting a glance at him as she walked in, followed closely by Hope. Stills frowned and closed the door behind them as he entered the dark room. The opposite wall was a one-way mirror, on the other side a brightly lit room with a table and two chairs.
“Bring her in,” Stills said to his radio before stopping to the left of Lawson, with Hope waiting on her right side. “We followed the vessel as instructed. As soon as they left batarian space, we tailed them to a refueling and trading station in the Exodus Cluster.” The door opened and two soldiers dragged in the prisoner, a lean, athletic woman in pants and a tank top, with a hood on her head. Her hands cuffed behind her back she was still struggling until they roughly slammed her down on a chair, arranging her arms behind the back of the chair. “They were probably going for an Alliance base on Eden Prime. We waited, as instructed, but she...” he nodded at the prisoner, “she spotted one of us in the bar. She killed two of my men and took out another four before we could take her down.”
“You got into a firefight at a space station?” Miranda frowned and looked at Stills sternly.

“Of course not! Our orders were to get her alive.” he snorted in disdain. “We tried to snatch her when she left the bar after a couple of drinks. Not a single shot was fired.”

Miranda raised her eyebrow.
“So you are telling me, that an unarmed, drunk Alliance marine took out six of your operatives before you could catch her?” she asked in an almost amused tone.

Captain Stills shifted uncomfortably, but didn’t answer, just knocked on the mirror, signaling his men to take off the hood.

One of the men yanked the hood off, revealing a dark-haired, dark eyed woman with a piercing gaze, cut lip and bruises on her cheek. She blinked a few times in the light, shook her distended locks of hair out of her face and looked around from the corners of her eyes.
Hope hissed as soon as she saw the face and even Miranda Lawson let out a surprised snort, which made Captain Stills nervous.

“What is it?” he asked.

Miranda let out a quiet chuckle.

“Congratulations, Captain. You managed to capture and beat up the only living human Savior of the Citadel.”

“W-wha...?”

“She fought against Sovereign on the Citadel alongside Commander Shepard and survived his death after the Normandy went down,” Hope explained quickly. “That’s Ashley Williams, Captain Stills.”
Stills cursed under his breath. This was huge. Bigger than him. Suddenly he was relieved that Lawson was here. From now on, it was her responsibility.

“We had no idea...”

“Of course you hadn’t.” Replied Miranda Lawson, observing Williams through the window. “The operation was so hush-hush, that even we didn’t get the details. That’s why you needed to tail the cruiser.” She shot a glance at the captain. “Our suspicions were well founded, it seems. If they sent Ashley Williams, it must be something very sensitive.” She smirked. “No wonder she made your men, captain.”

Stills nodded in appreciation by reflex, but right after that he wondered if he should be glad that he was called incompetent. He decided to keep quiet and watched the pale, statuesque features of the Operative as she surveyed the prisoner.
Ashley Williams seemed eerily calm, staring straight ahead with a dark gaze even after the guards left her alone in the room. She didn’t move a muscle, acknowledging the one-way mirror only with a side glance.

“Was it necessary to beat her up, Captain?” Lawson asked like it was an inconvenience. “You should know you won’t get information from a marine by simple, physical torture.”

Stills shrugged. “We didn’t know who she was at the time. And we needed to know if her men would come after her.”
Miranda Lawson didn’t respond, but watched Williams thoughtfully.

“If this was such a covert op, they wouldn’t. Their orders would probably be to return to base and just shut up,” Hope suggested to break the silence. That earned a small nod from Lawson which made Hope smile proudly, but only briefly, quickly putting on a straight face. She didn’t want to seem unprofessional.
Lawson turned away from the window and looked at them.

“She lost her idolized commander after saving the Citadel. Dropped off the radar after that. If she took this mission, she must have thought she won’t survive.” She paused, looking into the darkness thoughtfully. “Your normal interrogation methods wouldn’t work on her anyway. This requires a different approach.”
She stepped forward, glancing quickly at the datapad and took a deep breath, closing her eyes. She shook her head, exhaled, and adjusted her uniform, looking down. When she looked up with her head still bowed, she smiled shyly at Hope, suddenly looking like rookie with a stage fright.

“You know the playbook. Wait for my signal.” She said to Captain Stills in a softer tone and walked out.
Hope and Stills stared at each other incredulously, still processing what just happened. They turned their attention to the mirror and within seconds, Miranda entered, shifting uneasily when the door slammed shut behind her. She made her way to the table with eyes cast down, and only looked up at Ashley when she finally sat down.
She cleared her throat. “Major Williams. It is an honour to finally meet the Hero of the Citadel.” She said, her voice gradually getting stronger.
Hope made an appreciative chuckle at the charade, smiling in disbelief. “Oh, she’s good.”

Stills mumbled something in agreement, still under the influence of the sudden transformation. He didn’t trust his voice, and it probably wouldn’t be wise to say what was on his mind, but he found it very, very hot.
***
The woman shifted in her seat across from Ashley, trying to find a stern enough pose as she fidgeted with her datapad. Ashley just stared at her with a straight face, her dark gaze sizing her up like a predator measuring her prey. She looked like a poster girl for Cerberus recruitment, impossibly pretty face, perfect hair, very tidy and neat, her Cerberus branded uniform hugging her perfect shape. Ashley was certainly not expecting a model to interrogate her. She certainly didn’t look intimidating. Maybe her charms would work on a man, but not her. She didn’t speak, and after a few long, awkward seconds the woman cleared her throat and went on.

“My name is Miranda Lawson. I read all about you. You are a great hero of humanity. You make us proud.”

Ashley resisted the urge to sneer at her. She didn’t want these terrorists to be proud of her. Lawson waited for a response, moistening her lips, fingers tapping on the datapad. When Ashley kept quiet, she went on.
“I was sorry to hear about Commander Shepard. He was an inspiration to us all.” That made a nerve twitch on Ashley’s face. What was she trying to do? Piss her off even more?

Noticing Ashley’s reaction, Lawson quickly continued the one-sided conversation.

“Our men didn’t know you led this operation, Major Williams. They should have been more... tactful.”

Ashley’s lips almost twitched into a smirk, shooting a glance to the mirror. Blaming it on the team. The good cop, bad cop routine, apparently.

“We just want to know about the operation, Major. I promise you, that you can return to the Alliance unharmed. Just... debrief us.”
Ashley kept her face straight. This woman was talking too much, giving away info. They didn’t know about the op, they didn’t know she was leading it. They were either that desperate, or this Lawson was prettier than smart. Sure, she looked confident enough, but she didn’t run the operation if it took days for her to appear.
Miranda waited again, then nodded as the silence grew. She checked her datapad.

“Do you know a man named Abraham Rumoi?” She asked, waiting and checking Ashley’s reaction. “He is an Alliance intelligence operative, Major. Surely you know him.” Pause. “He is also known as Keiji Okuda, though. Did you know this, too? He steals and sells objects and information to the highest bidder. Like information about your operation. A rogue Alliance spy. That’s... unpleasant for the Alliance, isn’t it?”
Ashley couldn’t care less. It might not even be true. She kept her gaze locked on Lawson, see if she could make her squirm more. She didn’t, but she did sigh, a little bit impatiently, maybe.

“Look, Major. I know you have trouble believing it, but we are actually on your side.” The woman looked into her eyes for the first time. She had perfect, blue eyes, and they seemed harder and more clever than Ashley believed at first. Maybe she wasn’t dumb. She just seemed out of her comfort zone a little bit. The woman actually reached forward over the table before she realized the futility of the gesture and pulled her hand back.
“Major Williams. We know what happened at the Citadel. We know that... thing, that Reaper, Commander Shepard called it,” the mention of Shepard’s name hit a nerve again. Ashley tried to hide it with a bored sigh, as she looked away at the ceiling, like she heard this sermon before. “We know it’s not a geth ship or a hoax. We actually believe there are more of them. Ask yourself, Major, what does the Council say about this?”
Ashley glanced back at Lawson. This was getting too close for comfort. What did Cerberus actually know? So far, the woman only shared public information. Their theory about the other Reapers could have been guesswork. Or they had inside men. She should probably get more information out of this woman somehow.
“Frustrating, isn’t it?” Lawson pressed on, misreading Ashley’s reaction. “They are in denial, Major, because that’s comfortable. And they still don’t take humanity seriously, even after we saved their asses. But I’m sure you know this feeling. I admire your loyalty to the Alliance and the Council, but is it worth it?”
Ashley kept her silence. Let the woman talk some more, trying to convince her with the good cop routine. The woman nodded in sympathy, as if Ashley agreed with her.

“One last question, Major Williams.” She stopped fiddling with the datapad, and leaned her elbows on the table as she searched for Ashley’s gaze. “Have you seen anything similar to the ship, that destroyed the Normandy? Do you believe the propaganda that it was a geth ship, or do you believe your eyes? What did you see out there, Major?”
Miranda waited, locking her gaze with Ashley’s. None of them budged, but Ashley’s mind started to race. She was pushing the wrong buttons, bringing up the Normandy again and again. It was too soon and too painful and this was Cerberus. Admittedly though, maybe this Lawson woman was not that smooth as an interrogator, but she was certainly smarter than she gave her credit for. And they had sources.

When she didn’t reply, Lawson nodded again and tore her gaze away from Ashley.

“Very well then. Let’s take a break.” She started to stand up.
“That was three questions,” Ashley said finally. Lawson froze and slowly sank back into the chair.

“W-what?”

“Your one last question was actually three.”

The other woman blinked. “Yes.”

“You want me to give out military secrets to you and you try to recruit me. You beat me for two days and now you play the good cop here. I’m handcuffed to a chair and you don’t even give me a fucking glass of water. Not even a damn apology. If you’re trying to play the sisterhood card here, it’s not really working either.”
The Cerberus agent blushed slightly and looked down at her datapad for a second.

“Your treatment was unfortunate—”

Ashley snorted. This was getting nowhere, and she started to get riled more and more every time the Normandy was mentioned. It was time to drop some bait.

“No, I haven’t seen anything like that ship. I believe my own eyes and that was no geth dreadnought. I’ll have my glass of water now.”

“Very well,” Miranda nodded and allowed a faint smile, absently brushing her hair behind her ear as she cast her eyes down and stood up. Ashley almost raised her eyebrow at that gesture, but she kept still. “We will continue this later.”
She walked to the door, knocked on it, and glanced back at Ashley over her shoulder, almost jumping when the door clicked open. One more glance at their prisoner and she walked out.
***
Miranda stepped inside the observation room where Stills looked at her in bafflement, while Hope was smiling at her in barely veiled admiration.

“That went reasonably well,” Miranda said coldly, without any trace of the act she just pulled at the interrogation room. “How many men you have on the ground, Captain?”
“Uh, six.”

“Tell them to get ready. And Hope, as soon as we’re done here, fly to the capital and make arrangements for transport.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Stills lifted a hand to stop them.

“So what now? Do you really want to recruit her?”

Miranda glared at him coolly.

“She will never turn to Cerberus. She’s too loyal to the Alliance. If she would turn, she would be useless.”

“Then what? Get her to talk and then what? Kill her?”

“No. She cannot be harmed. If we kill her, the Alliance will step up their game against Cerberus.” She leaned against the wall and watched Williams through the window. “She is too important. An Alliance hero. We don’t kill heroes, Captain. She talks and then she walks.”

“We can’t beat it out of her. We can’t harm her. Then what will it be? Drugs?”
Miranda sighed.

“That’s not an option either. If we antagonize her against us too much, she will be a too powerful enemy. No. There have been mistakes in the past when too many human lives were sacrificed to get results. That’s just crude.”

“Then how exactly do you plan to get the information from her without interrogation?”

Miranda smiled, folding her arms in front of her chest. It was not a pleasant smile. It made Stills cringe.

“She will simply tell it to me on her own. In private.”
***
They quickly went over the plan before Miranda disappeared for half an hour and came back refreshed and ready. She took a plastic cup, filled it with water and nodded to the guards to walk in with her.
From the observation room, Hope watched intently as Miranda walked in, fidgeting with her hair and putting the cup down on the table. The guards stopped behind her. Ashley looked at the cup and then up at Miranda with a questioning look. She sniffed and let out a snort.

“Did you just take a shower?” she asked incredulously.

Miranda frowned and blushed slightly, clasping her hands behind her back.

“Why would you say that?”

“Because I can smell it. You smell fresh. I know, because I spent three days in a cell with my own filth. Did my odor bother you or what? Are you in a hurry? You look like you’re going on a date. Don’t let me hold you back.”

Miranda snorted in disdain.

“That’s absurd. It’s the long trip and the planet— Ah, well, it’s none of your business.” She sat down on the corner of the table. “Now. Can we get back on the subject? Are you ready to tell me about your mission now?”

Ashley narrowed her eyes and looked over her and the goons.

“What, they gonna beat me again and you ask the questions? And I can drink a cup of water as a reward? That’s the strategy?”
Miranda looked at the guards and then back at Ashley.

“Of course not.” She nodded to one of the men who stepped behind Ashley. “He’s gonna uncuff you, they leave, you drink your water and then we talk.” The guard stopped and waited until Miranda stared at Ashley. “Can we make a deal, or will you try to make it harder for all of us?”

Ashley kept quiet for a long time, sizing them up with narrowed eyes and a faint smirk in the corner of her lips. She blinked once and exhaled.

“Fine. Let me drink that fucking water.”

Miranda looked at the guard and gave a curt nod. The man leaned forward to uncuff Ashley’s hand. After that, things happened so fast, that Hope had a hard time following the events and needed several seconds to reconstruct the scene.
As soon as Ashley’s hands were free, two things happened at once. She kicked the table, flipping it over, which sent Miranda falling against the second guard and the two of them going down in a tangle of limbs. At the same time Ashley slammed her head back right into the face of the guard still bent over to collect his handcuffs. There was a crack of bones as the man’s nose gave up, and he staggered back with a grunt, clasping his bleeding face with both hands.
Ashley was on her feet and kicked back the chair with a hard heeling move into the guard’s torso and she spun, leaping at him already, lifting one leg and planting the sole of her foot right into his abdomen, slamming him into the wall. He dropped like a ragdoll.
By the time Miranda crawled off the guard and he climbed to his feet, his partner was out cold. He needed to jump over the upturned table which gave Ashley enough time to close the gap and be inside his reach, shouldering him back against the wall. She parried his hand away easily and punched him in the jaw. They both went for his sidearm, and it became a struggle of short grunts, elbows and knees, groans, twisting arms and wrists, eerily quiet, nobody speaking or screaming.
When the guard had Ashley in a grip around her throat, standing behind her, she lifted the gun up, both their hands around the grip, and it was dancing dangerously in front of them, aiming roughly at Miranda. That put the guard in an awkward position, as he wouldn’t want to shoot his superior officer and had to stop Ashley from pulling the trigger, while Miranda was slowly standing up against the wall, staring at them with wide eyes, trying to get away from the gun. When she tried to make it towards the door, Ashley managed to pull the trigger and blow a hole into the wall right in front of Miranda, forcing her to stagger backwards.
Miranda tried to edge towards the unconscious guard, but while choking in the man’s grip and elbowing him in the stomach, Ashley still managed to point the gun at her again, which made Miranda froze. Ashley was a fierce sight, white teeth bared, the cut on her lip bleeding again, tangled black hair hiding her eyes, her body tensing up in the tight grip.
And then, when she saw that Miranda was not going anywhere and she was safe, she yanked the gun down, twisted in the squeeze and fired a shot downwards, just past her calves, into the foot of the guard. The man roared, and Ashley slipped free, dropping to the ground onto her back, facing her enemy and shot him in the chest a few times.
By the time he crumbled to the ground, Ashley was on her feet, kicking the upturned table towards the door to block it. Keeping the gun pointed at Miranda, she ran to the first guard to grab the keys, not even looking at her.
When she got the keys she stepped to Miranda, who had her back against the mirror still staring at her with wide eyes, trying to figure out what’s gonna happen. She got a slap on her face, making her cheeks turn red and she lifted a hand to touch where it hit. Ashley snapped the handcuff on her lifted wrist and gave her a yank to turn over, pinning her face to the mirror.
Hope saw as Miranda looked through the mirror, knowing she was there. It was creepy how she almost exactly looked at her. She gave a short nod to Hope before Ashley pulled her away, the other half of the cuff on her own left wrist.

“What are you doing?” Miranda demanded, when she realized they were cuffed together, but Ashley just twisted Miranda’s cuffed hand behind her back and gripped it tight, keeping Miranda in front of her.
“Shut up!” Ashley hissed and pressing the gun into Miranda’s back they made their way towards the door, just as it got kicked in by two other guards. They stopped as soon as they saw the situation. “Back off! Now!” Ashley yelled at them, twisting Miranda’s wrist painfully upwards, that made her hiss and her back arch, pushing her chest out.
The guards backed away into the corridor, guns trained on them, but they let Ashley make her way around the table and out into the corridor. She stayed by the wall, keeping Miranda firmly between her and the men and started to strafe to the right, along the wall.

“Stay there or I put a hole in her!”

“You won’t get out of here alive!” Miranda hissed with gritted teeth. “They won’t let you get away.”

Ashley shrugged.

“Well, everybody’s usefulness comes to an end, then.” Ashley chuckled. “Starting with you.”

She reached the corner, and peeked out in both directions. She saw more space on the opposite side, which meant she had to push away from the wall and edge closer to the corner.
The guards kept following them slowly. They stopped when Ashley stopped just in front of the corner.

“Drop your guns, boys and walk away.” Ashley hissed. The Cerberus men did not move. Ashley was weighing her options, when a third man appeared, walking out of a room behind the men. He seemed to be in charge. “Tell your men to drop the weapons!” Ashley warned.

“I will not,” Captain Stills replied calmly, hands behind his back, stopping between his men.

“See? They won’t let you get away.” Miranda whispered calmly, but her eyes were glued to the guns pointed at her. “Give it up.”
“Then it will get messy, captain!” Ashley shouted. “Nobody will win! If you let me leave now, nobody else needs to get hurt!”
Stills chuckled, giving her a sadistic grin.

“But you have our agent. And we can’t let her get taken. She might talk.” Miranda gasped and suddenly became very tense, pressing back against Ashley. The marine sensed the powers shifting.

“Fuck,” she hissed and dove behind the corner, yanking Miranda with her at the exact second the guns started firing.
She heard Miranda yelp in pain and stagger into her, both of them tumbling behind the corner. Ashley started to back down the corridor fast, half dragging her limping hostage with her. The men started to turn around the corner, but Ashley peppered them with a couple of shots, forcing them to jump back. She heard the captain yell not to let them get away.
The corridor ended in a bridge that ran across a couple of minecar tracks, one automated train slowly chugging along just below them. Firing a few more shots at the corner Ashley pulled them to the railing.

“You either jump with me or you’ll be cushioning my fall,” she warned Miranda, who snapped her head back and glared at her in surprise.

“Wh-what?”

“You heard me. Climb over,” Ashley snarled and lifted her leg over the railing already, letting off shots towards the corner now and then.

“You’re insane.” Miranda protested but one more painful twist of her arm convinced her to climb over, using one hand to steady herself.
Aiming her gun at the guards, Ashley looked down and watched the empty ore cars roll along and counted in her head.

“One... two... three... Now!” she counted and jumped and down they went.

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