“We’re here to see your boss,” Xerxzias stated calmly. The two Cerberus guards exchanged glances before one stepped aside and placed a hand to his helmet. The human nodded to the krogan.

“You’re clear to go in,” he growled. “Head down the main hall and into the elevator.”

“Thank you,” she said.

The mechanical doors opened and the two stepped inside. Anders looked around in awe. The Cerberus base had been almost completely renovated, and he watched as engineers and scientists worked in the labs to either side of them. The two continued onward, with the human trailing behind the turian, until they reached the elevator with two guards standing in front of it. Once again, a Cerberus operative, this time a turian, stepped aside to ask for their permission to advance. He gave the all-clear and the two tourists entered the elevator. The vorcha to the turian’s side put in the controls for the elevator and it rose, giving them a clear view of the ground floor.

The labs were in separate office-like spaces, each almost like its own dorm with a platform on top for easy repairs to the ceilings and electrical circuits. The engineers and construction workers were in the process of building a floor directly above it, which attached to the far wall and the two adjacent walls. The top level of the floor was nearly finished and designed to look almost exactly like the one below it. Anders was unable to observe any more as the view suddenly disappeared and the outside view of Trident replaced it.

It was still pouring and dark outside, with the occasional flash of lightning still lighting the sky and ground for half a moment before disappearing and leaving the darkness and rain again. “Dreary, isn’t it?” he muttered.

“Indeed. But it is a perfect hideaway for the boss.”

He nodded in agreement and they continued up silently. The elevator soon stopped and the doors opened to reveal a somewhat dark hallway with a room at the end containing glowing screens and panels aligned on either side. Anders caught a glimpse of a figure in the room, but it disappeared almost as quickly as he spotted it. They were soon surrounded by Cerberus troops, who escorted them into the room. The figure reappeared and seemed to study them though its helmet. Judging by the build of the figure, he could guess it was human, though whether or not it was male or female was anyone’s guess. The human wore a helmet and matching, heavy armor, which were dark in color with a hint of copper. The human glanced to the Cerberus soldiers one at a time.

“Leave us,” came an electrically distorted voice, likely to prevent anyone from recognizing them.

The Cerberus troops exchanged glances before doing as they were told and heading down the elevator. Once every last one was cleared out, the human turned and marched over to the windows, which aligned the far side of the room. They were massive windows and gave the human an excellent view of the dull world outside.

“Xerxzias, last time we chatted you were unhappy with me. Surely you didn’t have a sudden change of heart?” The human turned around to face them again, but didn’t come closer.

The turian seemed to grin, for her mandibles spread and she stepped forward. “No, you’re right. I haven’t had a sudden change of heart. I just figured I needed someone else to get back in.”

“Oh I would’ve let you in,” the Cerberus leader muttered, “but you would’ve simply been exterminated upon sight.” The human’s helmet turned to Anders and it seemed to study him for a moment. “Bringing in a witness doesn’t change anything. It simply means that there’s an explanation needed for him.”

“And you’re going to exterminate him once you’ve finished with me, right?” the turian growled in an almost sadistic tone. “If I kill you I’ll make sure I’m the only one who knows your true identity.”

The human laughed, which startled Anders. It was almost a familiar laugh, but the distortion of the human’s voice made it impossible to tell. “What do you want truly, Xerxzias?”

“Take off the helmet, human.”

“I’m afraid that’s not up to me or you.”

“Oh really?” the turian growled. “Then who is it up to?”

“Why don’t we ask the bystander?” the human stated, again settling its gaze on Anders. “What will it be, Anders?”

He glanced between the two of them, utterly confused about the rivalry going on between them. It was a good thing Xerxzias made him bring along a gun, or he wouldn’t have any false sense of security to lean back on. He knew that he was likely going to be shot at either way, it was best not to figure it out. Still, he came this far, and at the moment he trusted the turian more than he trusted the human. That was when it suddenly hit him: he hadn’t spoken his name. How could the Cerberus leader know it? He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and gently drew up his weapon, pointing the muzzle at the ground.

“How do you know my name?”

The Cerberus leader paused thoughtfully before shaking their head. “Does it matter? I have intel on many individuals, human or otherwise.”

“Take off the helmet, then,” he said.

The human nodded. “Very well. The decision’s been made.”

Xerxzias narrowed her eyes victoriously and reached for the gun on her holster as the human reached up to pull the helmet off of their head. Both of the guests watched as the human dropped aside the helmet, revealing a heavily scarred yet recognizable face. It took Anders a moment to comprehend what was going on before he nearly dropped his weapon.

“Swift?! But you…”

“I was never claimed dead or MIA.” She whipped out her pistol in one nice, quick motion and aimed the barrel directly at the turian’s head.

“Ahh, the infiltrator from Omega. Seems you’ve had a change of heart about Cerberus,” Xerxzias taunted.

“Yeah. Great. You know who I am. You have one chance to get out.”

The turian laughed and drew her own pistol, aiming it at the woman and narrowing her eyes threateningly. “Oh really? And just who do you think you’re dealing with?!”

“Xerxzias the bounty hunter. You were hired by a batarian pirate by the name of Ushul Ghigrevas to take out the leader of Cerberus to prevent us from aiding the other races by placing one of his operatives on top by a human named Baran Ji. Baran’s already been taken care of, you’re the only one left.” Swift smirked and narrowed her eyes threateningly. “You seem to forget that I’m a sharpshooter and an infiltrator, X. I know how to gather information—and I know how to shoot a gun.”

The turian seemed shocked at her statement, and gripped her pistol with both hands. “You bitch! I’ll fucking kill you for that!”

“No,” the human muttered, “you won’t.”

One of them fired, but it wasn’t until Xerxzias’ pistol dropped out of her hands and she collapsed to the floor that Anders knew who. Swift casually tucked away her pistol and scooped up her helmet before crouching near the turian and shaking her head.

“I’m sorry you had to deal with that Anders.”

“Well, as long as you aren’t going to shoot me too…”

“I have no reason to.”

“Really? But earlier the two of you were—”

“That was her statement, not mine.” She tossed him a quick glare. “I wouldn’t harm a friend, you know that.”

He nodded and watched as she set her helmet near one of the consoles and flipped through one of the screens. She was awfully quiet. She wasn’t like that a few years ago: normally she would’ve broken out into complaining about the threat she had just eliminated or would gloat about something or even irritate him. But then again, this wasn’t the situation he’d expected to find her in either. Sure, people changed, but this was… drastic.

“Everything okay?”

She had to completely turn around to glance at him, and he soon figured out why. One of her blue eyes was lightly glazed over. It still maintained its color, but the whole right eye was completely blind. The right side of her face seemed to have the most damage as well, with burn scars nearly completely covering that full side. Her left side wasn’t as badly off, but it still wasn’t anywhere near how it used to be. Something he had noticed too, not that he assumed it was at all related to the scarring, was that she had grown her hair out some. It was no longer chin-length, and instead nearly dropped to her shoulders.

“You honestly need to ask?” she muttered, turning back to her console.

He sighed and tucked away his weapon before advancing towards her. “Well no. It’s just polite to ask.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head before picking up her helmet and studying it. After a moment of silence she practically shoved it into his hands before leaning against the desk. “What do you want to know?”

That was her usual question. She never outright stated what it was she thought he wanted to know, she always asked so she didn’t over-explain anything. Even then, she still went into a bit of detail, but he didn’t mind so much. After a while he learned that it meant that she wasn’t too badly affected by any events that had happened, no matter how catastrophic they were.

“What happened back on Earth?”

She tensed up a bit, then dropped her gaze. “Well, we took out Reapers. Seneg and I went into the final charge to make it up the beam transporting people to the Citadel. We didn’t make it very far. Seneg took a direct hit and I was blocked off by marauders and husks.”

Her voice trailed: the usual sign that something was bothering her. He leaned against the desk as well and stared around the room a bit, avoiding the sight of the turian on the floor. “And then?”

“I took a few indirect hits from the Reaper defending the beam. That’s… well, that’s where the scars came from.” She shrugged indifferently, then her shoulders dropped and her gaze moved right to the floor.

He studied her for a moment, trying to come up with his next question. “And after you recovered what did you do?”

She seemed almost relieved about what he had asked her, and dislodged herself from the console to pace around a bit. “I left Earth after I recovered. I thought about trying to contact you guys, but eventually I decided you guys had had enough of me and determined to drop off the map completely.”

“Well, you certainly succeeded at that…”

She smirked faintly and nodded. “I realized Cerberus was in complete chaos and went to try and finish them… Then when I found some useful information I decided differently. There were too many people who had put their lives into making Cerberus, and letting it fall apart would’ve crippled those people as well as the other races. So instead I took over. It wasn’t a painless process: I had a few skirmishes with the old troops and had to bring in my own. I found people from all races willing to help reform the organization and turn it into something no one would be afraid to mention. All of the indoctrinated soldiers stayed, but we’re trying to reverse the process in order to allow them to think for themselves and not act like programs but actual people.”

She quieted down again and he watched her stand there silently for a moment or so. “Sounds stressful.”

“It’s not so bad. Those who do know my face are more than willing to lay down their lives to protect it.” She chuckled a bit before glancing back to him. “They were the ones who were up here, the six I sent to the lower levels. You wouldn’t know any of them, I didn’t when I first recruited them.”

He nodded and watched as her slight excitement completely diminished into a depression. He stood up straight and started to make his way over to her, but only so he could lower his voice. “What happened? You’ve changed quite a bit.”

She opened her mouth as if to say something, then glanced to him and shut it before walking right past him to the windows to look out at the pouring rain and occasional flash of lightning. He watched her silently before following.

“Swift…”

“He’s gone, Anders. He died during that charge. The hit he took was the only one he got to take.” She slammed her fist against the window, which barely even responded to her punch. “I should’ve been the one to take it, dammit!”

He stared at her for a moment before shifting his own gaze out the window. “It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have prevented it.”

“I know! And that’s why I’m so frustrated! I can’t prevent anything!”

He blinked in surprise and stared at her for a moment. She had rested her head against the window and squeezed her eyes shut.

“I’ve lost two whole teams, Anders. That’s why I didn’t contact you or Osirus or anyone else.” She pulled away from the window and stared out at it. “I didn’t want you all to share that fate as well, all because I made a bad call or got in the way or stayed arrogant…”

“Swift, calm down…”

She sighed and shook her head, grabbing her head with one hand and sighing heavily. “I know, I know. It’s just… I didn’t stay with him like I said I would. I fell behind. Our shuttle crash-landed on Earth so I was injured and bleeding and I couldn’t keep up with him…” She shook her head again before dropping her gaze. “I promised myself I wouldn’t let him die in battle too… I wanted Seneg to move on afterwards and have a life, even if it meant I wouldn’t be there to see it.”

He studied her for a moment longer as she shifted her gaze back out the window. He then studied the helmet in his hands before gently placing it in her hands. She stared down at it for a moment before glancing up at him in confusion.

“He’d be proud of you, Swift.” He smiled reassuringly and placed a hand on her shoulder. “After all you’ve accomplished, he’d be impressed.”

“Yeah,” she muttered, shifting her gaze to the turian lying on the floor. “I guess he would be…”