"Is there a problem, Ms. Lawson?"
.
A/N: Yes! Finally a day full of new ideas (looks accusingly at writer's block banned to the far end of the room for today) that makes it easy to write... This is just a little scribble. Had this idea for a while (yes, people, that's what happens when I watch "Archer").
As for my other stories: don't worry, I'm constantly working on them as well, they're just not fit to be seen/read yet, but I've got stuff in store for all of them... :)
"No!"
Admiral Hackett looked up from the datapad in his hand. "Pardon?"
Miranda nervously crossed her arms in front of her chest. "With all due respect, sir... Is there no one else you could send?"
Admiral Hackett put the datapad down on his desk and laced his fingers before he calmly answered. "Ms. Lawson, if the troubling information we received is accurate and there are attempts to rebuild Cerberus, we need to prevent this before it's too late."
"But isn't there someone else to accompany me?" Instead of that bloody incompetent-
"Commander Shepard and you worked well together taking down the Collector base all those years ago, as I read in my reports..." Yes, but that was before that bloody idiot dumped me...
"That is correct, sir, but if I may add: Shepard also worked very well with her new squad while defeating the Reapers as I heard. Perhaps it would be better to send her on this mission with one of them..." Besides, she's immature and unprofessional!
"But who better to send with her than you? You are a former Cerberus operative, you know exactly how they work..." Seeing Miranda shifting her weight and placing a hand on her hip, he added, "Is there a problem, Ms. Lawson?"
Miranda took a deep breath, rubbing her temples. You can do this, Lawson, you're a professional... "No, sir." Strictly professional...
Unprofessional!
Miranda's eyes narrowed at the sight of her former commander approaching the shuttle. She was leaning against its hull, her arms crossed, since she and the shuttle pilot had been forced to wait an hour at this bloody landing zone in the middle of nowhere until the 'savior of the galaxy' had decided to join them so that they could finally get this mission over with...
Shepard was smiling her usual cocky smile as she'd finally reached them, a bag (hopefully containing her armor and not liquor, but by the smell of it, she'd already had enough of that...) over her shoulder.
"Well then..." Shepard nodded at the shuttle pilot who got back on his feet (after joining Miranda outside the shuttle but quickly realizing that the former Cerberus operative wasn't in the mood for small talk, instead, he'd sat down and leaned against the hull to take a nap while they'd waited) and enterd the shuttle. Shepard's eyes were on Miranda. "Shall we?"
Miranda let her eyes wander over the unwelcoming desert surrounding them. "What were you even doing here?"
Shepard shrugged. "There's this new bar-"
Miranda raised her hand. "I don't even want to know..." she announced, turning on her heels and entering the shuttle.
Once inside, Miranda sat down on a bench opposite the door, activating her omni-tool and scanning their destination's blueprints while the shuttle doors closed behind Shepard and they took off. It seemed that, even after the Illusive Man's death, a few remaining Cerberus operatives had decided to rebuild the organization under new management. At least that's what the information the Alliance had received anonymously (though Miranda was pretty sure it was a "present" from the Shadow Broker...) indicated. It would be-
Miranda's heart skipped a beat as she raised her head. Instead of sitting down on a bench (preferably as far away from her as possible), Shepard was rummaging through the bag she'd brought along, the N7-shirt she'd worn before already lying on the floor next to her. Miranda swallowed once, trying to take her eyes off and focus on the mission at hand, but failing... Was that tattoo new? It certainly accentuated her- Shepard got back up, her back still on her, and Miranda quickly averted her eyes, narrowing them as she scrolled through the information on her omni-tool once more.
According to the list of arrivals and departures, they would encounter approximately 40 Cerberus operatives and personnel. Nothing they couldn't handle... Once they'd reached the facility's core, they would gather all the data they could find, hopefully containing names and coordinates as well as planned operations, making it easier for the Alliance to take out the rest of those bastards before the cancer Cerberus had become could spread out once more... And knowing Shepard, they would leave with a-
Bang!
Miranda's head shot up. Obviously, the sound had been caused by Shepard colliding with the shuttle wall.
Changing into her armor in a flying shuttle... Miranda shook her head. Absurd!
Shepard had quickly regained her balance again and was now peeling out of her pants, causing a slight blush to appear on Miranda's cheeks. She's still wearing that silly N7-underwear...
"Enjoying the view?"
Miranda met Shepard's eyes. How had she not noticed her look over her shoulder? Shepard turned and was now facing her fully, still wearing way too little clothing to have a normal conversation without being distracted... Miranda's eyes narrowed and she simply huffed while forcing her attention back to her omni-tool.
Shepard's grin widened. "You know, if you want to help, you just have to ask..." she offered.
"In your dreams!"
"Suit yourself..."
"Interesting choice of words..."
Shepard gave a short laugh before she turned back to her armor.
"Shepard... am I still part of your plan? It's been so long, I wasn't sure where we stood." Miranda averted her eyes.
"We..." Shepard took a deep breath before continuing. "Need to stay focused on the war, on survival. We can't go back to what we were."
Miranda's face dropped. "Of course." She scratched her forehead in irritation while continuing, "I... I understand. You're right to be cautious." Feeling the tears fill her eyes, she quickly turned.
"I'm sorry, Miranda," came Shepard's voice from behind her.
She rubbed her nose a couple of times to regain her composure before she straightened up again. "It's all right, Commander. It's done," she stated, still not able to turn back around.
"Okay."
Oh, you bloody...
A sudden shake of the shuttle jolted Miranda out of her memories. She looked up and her eyes immediately narrowed. Damn it, if she doesn't stop playing with that gun, she'll kill us before we even get to the landing zone... She ran a hand through her hair. And how many times is she going to count those bloody thermal clips again?
Shepard's head rose as she noticed the movement on the bench across from her. "Anything I should know about the facility?" she asked, her expression somewhat serious (not that she'd ever managed to remain serious for an entire mission, that bloody immature fool!).
Miranda shrugged. "We'll get in, kill everyone wearing a Cerberus logo and collect the data." She challengingly leaned forward. "That shouldn't be too hard to comprehend, even for you..."
"I'm sorry, Miranda."
Was that a sob? Shepard's forehead creased in a mix of compassion and irritation. Where was the cold and calculating Miranda Lawson she'd expected to meet right now? Before she could reach out and pull her into a tight embrace, taking everything back and reassuring her of her love, Miranda squared her shoulders, her back still on Shepard.
"It's all right, Commander. It's done," she declared in her usual, cold business-tone.
"Okay." Shepard didn't know what else to say. For a second, she thought she'd catched a glimpse of a side of Miranda she'd never seen before, but just like so many times before, Miranda was quickly back to her old self again, leaving her wondering if it had even happened in the first place...
"Look, it was great to see you but I should get going..." Miranda started to walk away.
"Are you sure?" Shepard took a few steps forward, attempting to follow her, but then stopped. Maybe Miranda had had the same thoughts after all, coming to the same conclusion, that a relationship under these circumstances would be... problematic...
Miranda paused once more. "Yes. I've got some personal matters to attend to," she spoke over her shoulder, the blue barrier scanning passersby for hidden weapons obscuring the tears running down her cheeks.
Shepard nodded. Miranda obviously didn't want her help with those personal matters... "Stay in contact."
"I'll try." The dismissive tone told Shepard that she wouldn't.
Shepard's eyes were on Miranda's back while she walked away from her, suddenly wondering if it had been the right choice to let her go...
"We can use this!"
Miranda's head whipped around. "Have you lost your mind?" After a few, quick steps, she was standing next to Shepard and closed the wallsafe, almost jamming her former commander's fingers in the process. "We're in a facility filled with Cerberus operatives and so far, we've only cleared this room!" she hissed. "So could you please keep your voice down and not alert everyone still alive?"
Shepard's brows furrowed. "Jeez, would you relax? Even if they heard us, there's only one door, aside from the door we just came in, to enter this room, which would make it easy for us to take them out one by one if they heard us."
Miranda's eyebrows rose. She had a point... So she was paying attention to the facility's layout... Her eyes narrowed as she noticed Shepard's grin.
"Besides, I think the noise those guys," she pointedly looked at the dead Cerberus personnel covering the room's floor, "would have already alerted them even before I informed you about the usefulness of this wallsafe's content... Want a chocolate bar?"
Miranda rolled her eyes. Who keeps chocolate in a wallsafe? She shook her head and turned to leave the room. Unprofessional!
Clearing the next four rooms turned out to be as easy as the first one. As she stepped over a still smoking corpse, Miranda started wondering how she could have ever been proud, being a part of this organization... She turned to see what took Shepard so long and one of her eyebrows rose. Shepard was staring at her. While that wasn't new, Miranda still considered it rather inappropriate to admire her (many) assets while they were on a mission. They still had a job to do, after all. And she has blown her chances to get any more of this anyway...
Shepard's eyes were still on her as she slowly raised her gun. Miranda's eyes widened. What was she doing? She wouldn't dare-
Bang!
Taking a deep breath, Miranda quickly scanned her body for any wounds, still squeezing her eyes shut. When she was sure that Shepard, for some strange reason, must have missed her, she opened her eyes and took another deep breath before...
"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR BLOODY MIND?"
Before she could fill her lungs once more to continue, she heard a heavy thump behind her and turned her head. A Cerberus operative was lying behind her, blood still dripping from a shotwound between his eyes. Obviously surprised by their attack, he didn't have a gun in his hand. Instead, his fingers were still loosely holding a towel which he'd obviously intended to put around her neck... Her eyes narrowed. That ass...
"You're welcome," Shepard smiled as she passed her, stepping over the dead operative on her way out of the room.
"I don't think we should stay here for long..." Miranda nervously tapped her foot while keeping her eyes on the two doors leading into the room. It seemed to be an office for a high-ranking operative, judging by the large wooden desk Shepard was kneeling behind right now, rummaging through a stash of liquor she'd just found.
"Look at this stuff!" came Shepard's voice from behind her. "Most of the stuff is so old, I've never even heard of it!" She raised a bottle holding an orange, oily content. "Looks expensive..." she mused while stuffing it in her bag.
Miranda looked over her shoulder. "You're not actually planning on carrying all this liquor with you, are you?"
Shepard's head appeared from behind the desk. "It would be a shame to let it go to waste!" she exclaimed, then shrugged. "Besides, we're going to blow this place to hell anyway. No one's gonna miss it..."
Miranda huffed in annoyance once more and turned back to the door, adrenaline shooting through her entire body immediately. Accompanied by the first volley from the Cerberus agents that had stormed into the room while she'd been distracted, Miranda gracefully leaped over the desk and took cover next to Shepard, the shots hitting the wall behind them.
"Great. We could be long gone by now..." she murmured, shooting an angry glare at Shepard.
Stowing the last bottle in her bag, Shepard raised her head and gave a short laugh. "It seems you've been in a hurry the entire day... Anything special planned for tonight?" She smiled, nodding at her bag. "I think I've found liquor for every occasion, in case you're interested..."
Miranda's eyes narrowed. "Oh, you'd like to know what I have planned for tonight, wouldn't you?" Shepard's eyebrows rose at the sharp tone. "Just so you know, I'm doing great! I can't even count all the men I've slept with since we broke up!"
Not what I meant, but okay... "That's... good for you," Shepard offered, smiling at her shyly, which seemed to enrage Miranda even more (or maybe it was the hail of bullets making it impossible for them to move out of cover).
"Yes, that's very good!" she yelled. "I never properly got to thank you for that, so: thank you for letting me go. You can't imagine how good it felt not having to fear for my life because I'm standing next to a bloody lunatic attracting hostile attention everywhere she goes!"
Shepard shrugged her shoulders, still oblivious to the emotional scale of their conversation. "I always thought you liked the thrill when we were out on missions..."
"No, I didn't!" Yes, I did! God, if I have to listen to one more boring poem from that bloody dull idiot...
Shepard took Miranda's silence as a sign to finally concentrate on the slowly approaching Cerberus agents, still tearing holes in the room's walls... She searched her armor's pockets and a smile spread across her face as she found what she'd been looking for...
Miranda ran a hand through her hair and took a deep breath, leaning against the desk in exhaustion. In her rage, she'd even forgotten about their enemies, but was quickly reminded as she heard one of the agents bark an order, followed by Shepard's body suddenly pressing her to the ground. She inhaled sharply at the sudden closeness, but before she could do (or think) anything more, Shepard pressed her hands against Miranda's ears as a loud Boom! dimmed out every other sound and shook the room, the desk shoving them towards the wall and pressing them even closer together.
The loud explosion was followed by dead silence while parts of the ceiling rained down on them, showering mostly Shepard's back with debris and dust. Miranda, still protected by Shepard's body, opened her eyes slowly and found herself once more face to face with Shepard, those steely blue eyes on her. She swallowed, blinking a few times in irritation as she tried to remember when she'd been this excited... Oh, right... whenever she'd been on a mission with Shepard...
Hovering over Miranda's body for a few seconds more, Shepard took a deep breath, smiled at her and finally crawled off of her body. She pushed the desk aside, silently thanking the owner's taste for expensive (and solidly built) furniture and searched for her bag and its precious content. The bottle with the oily, orange liquor had been shattered (which was a shame, Shepard would have loved to know how it tasted...), but the remaining bottles had survived the grenade explosion... unlike the Cerberus agents...
Carefully lifting the bag, Shepard scanned the room for any survivors, but was quickly pleased with the result of her idea... It was highly unlikely that anyone could have survived the blast of the grenade which had landed right in the middle of the group, decorating the walls with their intestines...
She heard a groan behind her and turned, offering Miranda her hand and helping her get back on her feet. The former Cerberus operative let her eyes wander over the room. She nodded, impressed. "Well, that did it..."
With the smoke and dust settling, they left the room and finally found the terminals they'd been looking for, without encounting any more resistance on their way out of the facility once they'd transmitted all the data found to an Alliance server.
Even though she didn't turn around to confirm it, she knew that the explosion swallowing the facility behind them while they walked towards the waiting shuttle must have looked pretty impressive... Miranda shot a quick sideglance at Shepard walking beside her, the smile on her former commander's face telling her that she must have had a similar thought (or maybe she was already thinking about all the occasions she could drink the liquor she was protectively pressing against her chest)...
Miranda leaned back in her chair as soon as she'd finished her report for Admiral Hackett. She inhaled deeply while sending the report. Working alongside Shepard once more had been... interesting... She had to admit that it was almost impossible to find an individual as annoying but at the same time as professional and talented as her former commander. She shook her head. It didn't matter, it had been one mission and now they were both back in their own lives, Miranda doing the majority of her work from her desk (instead of on the battlefield, the thrill of shots piercing the air right next to her body but never hitting her, knowing she could die at any second with the thought at the back of her head that it would be worth it...) and Shepard was doing... whatever Shepard was doing... Probably getting drunk in some sleazy bar right now...
A knock on the door jolted her out of her thoughts and she got up from her chair, stretched her back and approached the door to her apartment. Her eyes shot from the bottle to Shepard's grinning face and back to the bottle, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"I brought you something to celebrate our success." Shepard waggled the bottle at her. "Since you were there with me, I thought it would only be fair to share our findings..." She nodded at the bag over her shoulder. "I brought all the liquor I found there, just in case this one's shit..."
"Don't tell me you haven't tried it yet..."
Shepard grimaced. "It's shit. But we've got twelve more chances to find something drinkable..."
Miranda rolled her eyes but couldn't stop from smiling as she stepped aside, letting Shepard enter her apartment.
"Besides... I think there's something we should talk about..."