Patiently she waited while the commander pushed himself up from the couch and made his way over to the table. Once he was seated, she began to eat, occasionally lifting her green eyes to study him. It would seem that she was concerned with whether he was enjoying the meal or not, but that wasn’t the entire reason for her interest in him. He seemed distant still, like he wasn’t fully in the present despite all the measures he had taken to combat the dormant emotions that existed in his past. The dark cloud that hung over him while he was broody and closed-off had lifted, and she suspected that he was trying to adjust after visiting the old memories. Ava helped him by offering up a subject that he could focus on. He informed her that the schedule would be the same and she nodded, glad that she would be familiar with the routine—more than familiar since she adhered to it for months. Of course, it would be different now with the recruits looking to her for guidance, support, and encouragement. Not only that, but discipline. Her mind took her back to the harrowing images forever ingrained her mind; of the headless, lifeless body that dangled in the commander’s grasp. She hoped like hell that there weren’t any fatalities at tomorrow’s run.<br/><br/>She reached for her glass and took a small sip of water as he concluded. “I remember.” Ava did her best to conceal her own feelings then. Her role in Alder Rush as a lead was unsuccessful. When the pressure was on and the stakes were high, she turned into a tyrant, a careless sociopath on a mission. She wasn’t worried about a malfunction, but she did wonder about her judgement; how much of it was the doing of the nanites regulating her system and how much of it was simply a lack of leadership ability. Almost nothing at the compound came to her naturally, so she was already of the mindset that she would have to work at it like everything else. “So, back to early mornings waking up at the crack of dawn.” She sighed, not as bummed as she sounded. Her internal clock was wired for an early rise thanks to her own training schedule. “Will it be an early night for you or a late night?” She asked, slipping off her stiletto under the table so that her foot could glide up his leg slowly. “I would understand if you have better things to do.” Ava paused, letting her foot go back to the ground once she had conveyed her message.