This is a Mass Effect Two fanfiction, first on this account, not website, by FoolKing. This is a John Shepard (Sentinel/Colonist/Sole Survivor. Same looks, just different class and story.) x Miranda Lawson and their relationship as they slowly fall for each other. I thought it was appropriate, as Miranda was my first romance. It was supposed to be Tali, but dat booty made me betray my beloved Quarian. She would have been my first Mass Effect fanfic, but I was having trouble with how to work with the enviro-suit. Don't forget to review. So without further ado…

Imperfect Perfection

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"Shepard!" I high pitched wail come from behind my as I latched my breather helmet onto my Alliance Onyx armor. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya stands behind me, looking even more panicky and fidgety than usual. Probably because the roof of the CIC was ripped open and whatever wasn't open to the vacuum of the void was ablaze.

"The distress is ready for launch." I say through a nasality, nodding at the Quarian.

"Will the Alliance, anyone, get here on time?" She said, very jittery.

"Of course, they won't just leave huge assets adrift, frozen in space." I grab a fire extinguisher as a rather big explosion rips through the SSV Normandy. I toss the pressurized canister to three-fingered masked beauty, to which she catches and goes to work.

"Joker's still in the cockpit, he's not leaving. And neither am I as long as your not."

"Tali. I need you to get the crew into the evacuation shuttle." I open a gauge, helping her with the fire.

"John."

"Tali, please."

After a seconds hesitation, she start piling in crew members as I make my way up to the CIC and hear Joker making a distress call. "Mayday, mayday! This is the SSV Normandy! We have suffered heavy damage from an unknown enemy. Hold it together girl, hold it together girl."

On the CIC, the artificial gravity is at the max, making me walk like Wrex in slow-mo. In the cockpit, Joker furiously works at trying to maneuver the carnage that used to be our ship. Bursting through into his pocket of air, I lean over the back of his chair, hollering. "Joker! Come on, we gotta go! Now!"

"I can still saver her sir!"

"It's over, Joker. No point in dieing without a reason." Finally his hands stop, with a heavy sigh.

"You're rig… They're coming around for another attack!"

I move back into space, seeing, the what seems to be a giant shit mixed with gray rings of Saturn, charge a huge orange beam, and fire. "Come on!" I grab his forearm, yanking him with me.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Fuck! Ow!" I escort the frail pilot to the escape pod on the bridge. Moving to the button as the phaser ripped through again, separating us as I smash the red launch button. "Shepard!" His screams are lost behind the doors as I drift into the cold space, grasping my helm, great pain spreading through me as darkness takes me.

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"There. On the monitor. Something's wrong." The voice sounds muffled as conscious slowly comes to me.

"He's reacting to the outside stimuli. Showing awareness of his surroundings." Another voice, slightly less muffled continues. My breathes are hard and labored as I look around, trying to find out where I was. "Oh my god, Miranda. I think he's waking up."

On my left a women in a white catsuit with black shoulders, arms, palms, white fingers, and black boots approach me, still a blur. "Damn it, Wilson! He's not ready yet. Give him the sedative!" I try to move my arm, but the woman pushes it back down, gently. As my vision clears up, I realize the woman is an angel. She must be to look so beautiful. In fleeting glimpse, she has long black hair and pale, flawless skin, topped with steel blue eyes. "Shepard – don't try to move. Just lie still. Try to stay calm." Her gloved hand rest upon mine as I start freak out at the wires and the sterile white room.

"Heart rate still climbing. Brain activity is off the charts. Stats pushing into the red zone. It's not working." The man tells her, sounding less than surprised as the angel crosses the room to the monitor.

"Another dose. Now." This "Miranda approaches, causing me to freak even worse and thrash around on the metal table.

Then, a wave of calm washes over, slowing my blood. "Heart rate dropping. Stats falling back into normal range. That was too close. We almost lost him." The bald man comments.

"I told you your estimates were wrong, run the numbers again." I slip back into sleep with the voice and the face of an angel seared into memory.

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The next time I regain awareness, gunshot and explosions sound off all around me. The female voice booming over a speaker. "Wake up, Commander. Shepard, do you hear me? Get out of that bed now – this facility is under attack." A explosion rocks me as my eyes flutter open, adjusting to the bright lights I grasp at my aching jaw as the soft, but demanding voice comes back to the overhead. "Shepard. Your scars aren't healed, but I need you to get moving. This facility is under attack. There's a pistol in the locker on the other side of the room. Hurry!" An excruciating pain spreads through my ribs as I use them to stand, making my way to the locker. "Grab the pistol and the armor from the locker."

I open the locker to see a set of all but facial armor, pulling it on, it adjusts itself to my fit, latching on and resizing perfectly. The armor looks so much different than my old armor, but on the front is the logo for N7. When I pick up the pistol, I notice something. "This pistol doesn't have a thermal clip." I announce, knowing she heard me.

"We'll get you a clip from… Damn it! Keep your head down, Shepard, shield yourself from the explosion!" I duck behind some sort of medical or science equipment in a clear container as the door to the lab explodes. "Someone's hacking security trying to kill you. Look for a thermal clip for your pistol."

"Well aren't you my night in shining armor." I quip as I find my clips on a dead girl in the old doorway.

I hear her sigh. "Now is not the time, Commander. Looks like someone set up a barricade to try holding the mechs off." I jump the barricade as a bullet whips past my face. "Look out!" I duck behind some near crates, initiating my omni-tool to appear on my forearm. Selecting an image, I hold it to my chest, an orange chestplate materialized in thin air around me. I hop the barricade, firing a single shot. The round destroyed the bots head. "Keep moving. We need to get you to the shuttles." I storm up the ramp and into the next room. "Shepard! Security mechs are closing in on your position. Take cover."

I drop down behind more solid glass and equipment as one comes head-on, two more from a side room. I fire two more rounds into the mechs wired skulls and use overload on the last, he fritz and explodes everywhere.

"Nice work, Shepard. Coast is clear." Relishing in the compliment from her sweet voice, I take the weak bots, compared to the Geth, clips and move on. I notice as a YMIR charges down a hall firing on two regular crew. I watch helplessly as it slaughters them from the other side of the bullet proof glass. "Don't waste time. I can't keep the mechs distracted for long." Moving past another dead body by the door, on the other side: "More reinforcements heading you way. Grab the grenade launcher off the security officers body. Here come the mechs, use the grenade launcher to take them out."

I aim it the downstairs door, then it slid open revealing a handful of mechs. Firing a single grenade was enough to send wiry limbs and circuit boards everywhere, also causing a pipeline to burst and a steady stream of fire gushes out.

"Take the elevator down one floor." Doing so, she makes another command. "Hurry! Get to the door! Run!" Sprinting through the least amount of concentrated fire, I make it through to the door unharmed. "You're doing… – Shepard. Head to the… – meet you..." I start to lose Miranda as I rush through the next door. "Shepard? – read me? I've got… – closing in… – position."

"Miranda? Miranda!" I shout, only to get silence in return. The next room contains to crawling robots, which I promptly stomp out. There is two data logs on a subject, most likely me. Miranda stays positive saying things are progressing, however slow. Wilson states it's over budgets, breaching four billion credits. On me? Why?

I hack a small wall safe, getting 975 cheap credits. I charge up stairs to see a man behind a window in another black and white with a familiar little orange emblem, it looks like a thin hexagon, not connecting at the bottom, and to little wing-like prongs going from three-fourths of the way up to the bottom, like a ship. "Shepard!" Another, to my disbelief, YMIR rounded the corned, firing openly. "No! Help! Help me!" Backing away towards the door, away from the gruesome scene, I move through the next door. In this room a dark skinned, young man shoot his heavy pistol at the mechs and using his biotic skills, with my assistants, we make short work of the bots.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were still a work in progress." The short-haired Vanguard in a tight leathery, shoulder plated body suit.

"Who are you? I just woke up? Got any coffee?"

Even under fire, he laughed at the comical request. "I'm Jacob Taylor. Miranda's Lieutenant, and head of security."

"You're bad at your job." I say with a poker face.

"Things must be worse than I thought if Miranda's got you running around. I'll fill you in, but first better get you to the shuttle first."

"Lead on, Jacob."

"First off – let's finish off these metal bastards. We're low on thermal clips, but I'm a biotic. Just give the order when you want me to hit them with the good stuff." After finishing several more LOKI mechs, we move onto the door opposite of the one I came from. "Ready to get the hell of this station?"

"Fuck, to the yes."

Before he could answer, someone cut in across Taylor's omni-tool. "Check. Check. Anyone on this frequency? Anyone still alive out there? Hello?"

"Wilson? This is Jacob. I'm here with Commander Shepard. Just took out a wave of mechs over in D Wing."

"Shepard's alive? How the hell… never mind. You need to get him out of there. Get to the service tunnels and head to the network control room."

"Roger that, Wilson. Stay on this frequency."

"I remember him."

"He's the chief medical tech. Answer directly to Miranda. Let's go."Down a long corridor with marks from gunfire on the walls and a clip, comes a small room, bathed in red lighting, and mechs coming to life. "Damn it, Wilson! This room is crawling with mechs!"

"The whole station is crawling with mechs! I'm doing the best I can!" The room contains three mechs which, we make short work of with biotics and guns.

"Wilson? Find us another route out of here. Preferably one that doesn't lead straight into an enemy squad!"

"Just keep moving toward the control room. Don't get pinned down. I'll see what I can do." The injured doctor hollers back at Jacob. "Oh, God! They found me! Help!"

"Wilson? Where are you?"

"Server Room B! Hurry! They're out of control!" He yells erratically as I haul ass up the stairs, on my left is a room with another project update, physical form done, still needing to know of mental and neurological state. Going back and heading right through an unlocked door, where the doc lays clutching a wound. "Bastards got me right in the leg."

"How am I doing doc? Will I live? Will you?" I say to the untrustworthy little man, hearing Jacob make a laughing noise by puffing air through his nose, then inspecting the wound.

"Shitty. Yes. And I yes. Get the medi-gel off the wall and help me out." I retrieve said medi-gel, holding my palm with an omni-tool on towards his legs, watching the shallow wound knit together. "Thanks, Shepard, I guess we're even now."

"What were you even doing in here, Wilson? Why do you even have security mech clearance? You're bio wing." Jacob pressed.

"I came here to try and stop the LOKIs, got shot. Do you really think I'm to blame?" Wilson says through clenched teeth.

"Both of you shut up." I state, not wanting to play daddy. "Let's get somewhere safe and then you can start throughing punches."

"Right, Shepard's right. We gotta find Miranda first, we can't leave her." Jacob nods, eying Wilson suspiciously.

"Hell no! She was in D wing, mechs were crawling all over that sector. She's gone."

"YMIRs couldn't stop Miranda, she's alive."

"Then where is she? Why haven't we heard from her? She's either dead, or a traitor! Face it!"

"No way! She helped! She's alive, and not a traitor, she would of let me die! Why are you so determined to leave Miranda?"

"Because she's not here, we are! I wanna live! The shuttle bay's over there."

As if on queue, the mechs burst in. I use my omni-tool to overload the canisters, destroying them and the mechs. "Shepard, things are getting tense, if I tell you who we work for, will you trust me?" Jacob says in as we shuffle through the canister bits and pieces.

"Not now, Jacob..." Wilson draws out.

"The Lazarus Project, that rebuilt you… Was a Cerberus project."

"Cerberus? Cerberus… Cerberus! You're terrorists!"

"Things change, Alliance gave up you, declared you dead. Cerberus spent a fortune restoring you. Look, I wouldn't trust us right now either, but for now, we need to work together. I figured to know what's what. Once we're out of here, I'll you to the Illusive Man, he'll explain everything."

"Fine, let's go. Tired of this place."

"You can say that again..." Taylor mumbles under his breathe.

"We're close to the shuttle bay. This way." In the hallway scattered with dead Cerberus crew is a datapad, which upon hacking contains a lump sum of credits. Through another corridor and to the left leads to a room with a lot of crates and mechs. Destroying the three mechs with head shots, heading upstairs proves more difficult, as on the left and right, there are huge groups of the AI. Pulling the grenade launcher off my back, I fire each way, explosions rippling, destroying anything in it's path. Having enough of this station, I go right, straight for the doors. "Come on, through her, we're almost at the..." As the doors slide open he falls silent, just to open his fat trap again. "Miranda! But you were..." He never finished his sentence, as she shot him in the chest.

"Dead?" The angel herself said as she watches with distaste as he falls to the floor in a bloody heap. I chuckle to myself as Jacob jogs to the body.

"What the hell are you doing?" He exclaims, eyes flickering from Wilson to Miranda.

"My job. Wilson betrayed us all." Said man, squirmed ever so gently, slowly making his way towards a gun. Lowering my M-3 Predator, I shot a round into his bald head, ending the squirming.

"Knew it." I mumble to myself.

"Good instincts." She says, surprising me that she heard that.

"Do you really think Wilson was capable of that?"

"Not anymore." Miranda laughs as Jacob just looks pissed. She puts her hand on her right hip, which she sticks out. She wears a white catsuit that is covered in little hexagons and a black belt that rides from her lower right hip to her upper left where it parts to go two ways, and her ample breast strain against tight suit. The shoulders and arms are black, all the way to the her knuckles, which are white. All accompanied by mid thigh-high black boots… Simple angelic face on the body of a seductress.

"Come on, let's take this shuttle off the station. I'll take you to our boss."

Trying to sound calm, bored almost. "The Illusive Man?"

"Ah, Jacob. You always were too nice for your own good..."

"Lying to the Commander isn't the way to get him to join our cause."

"Welp, anymore questions while we're getting it all out there, Shepard?"

"I've had enough of this station to last a life time."

"Or two in your case." She says, with the most beautifully, breathe-taking smile graced her lips as she laughs quietly to herself. I swear it made my heart skip a beat… Or they put it in wrong… I watch silently as we depart from the station, watching it grow smaller and smaller. "Before you meet the Illusive Man, we need to test your mental situation." Miranda states, now completely formal.

"What, we have to do this now?" Jacob sounds almost offended.

"We needed weeks for studying to see if the project was a success, a few questions on the shuttle ride will have to suffice." Her accent, closes to Australian, sent shivers down my spine.

"Okay, records show you were born in a colony, Mindoir. It was raided by Batarian slavers when you were sixteen, you alone survived. When the Alliance arrived, you enlisted at the age of eighteen and at twenty-three you volunteered for Akuze, only for fifty other soldiers to die by a Thresher Maw attack. Remember what it was like?" Taylor glances back at me.

"Horrible, bloody, gruesome. Fifty good men died." I say solemnly.

"I'm sorry, Commander. One slaughter after another must cause great mental stress..." The dark-skinned man look at Miranda, and speaks grudgingly. "Satisfied, Miranda?"

"Almost, try something more recent. On Virmire, where you destroyed Saren's Krogan army breeding facility, you had to let one of your Alliance crew die."

"Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko was killed in action. Your call. Why him, not Ashley?"

"it was the hardest choice of my life. But in the end, saving Ashley and the Salarians was more beneficial in the long run. I expressed my regret to Alenko before he died. He was a hero."

"I'm not judging. I understand."

"One more, after letting the council die to destroy Sovereign, who did you choose for the council? Udina or Anderson?"

"Anderson. Fuck Udina"

"Alright, but we really should run more tests..."

"Miranda. I can vouch for his combat skills, and the tests prove he's mentally stable. They're good enough."

"Fine." She says with a huff, the rest of the trip goes by in silence.