The Mask
Miranda and Kasumi work together and the results are catastrophic
What are we exactly looking for again?" Kasumi asked the now-silent Miranda Lawson, peering over her old XO's shoulder to see that Miranda was now looking through files and files of what looked like to be names, addresses, shipment records and the percentages of various sorts of cargo that said ships had carried. "I don't really see how we're going to find the ship with Oriana on by just going through this rubbish."
Miranda actually gave Kasumi the time of day to look over her shoulder with her hand holding up a piece of parchment that looked old and tatty. "This is going to help us find Oriana."
The thief's eyes widened at the crusty parchment, quickly taking it from Miranda's hands to turn it over in her own in case she missed a particular tidbit that made it so interesting but even when she did so all Kasumi could see was names of ships and dates and nothing that would lead them to the whereabouts of Oriana Lawson.
"You know," Kasumi drawled sarcastically, cocking her hip to the side with a hand leisurely resting in that particular spot. "Call me crazy but I'm not quite sure how this old paper is going to help us find your sister?"
The former Cerberus operative arched one of her fine brows in a way Kasumi knew meant that Miranda was critically analysing her and had come to the conclusion that not only was she an idiot, but she had no idea what this parchment contained behind the lettering and on both counts Kasumi had to silently agree with a simple nod and shrug of her shoulders.
Grabbing the parchment out of Kasumi's hands with a snide smile, Miranda pushed past the thief to climb back down the ladder that they had used to gain entrance to the old port records. "Coming?"
Kasumi answered the other woman by peering over the edge with her lips quirked into a smile, "depends where we're going don't you think?"
Miranda sighed in annoyance, gesturing with a tilt of her head for the master thief to get moving otherwise they'd find themselves locked in if the Alliance had anything to say about it; because if there was one thing the Alliance was good at it was at making sure Miranda struggled with everything she was doing and this time would obviously be no exception.
When Kasumi finally got her ass back down from the compartment they had been cramped in, Miranda turned her back on the thief to make her way towards the back entrance that had been left open (as it always was) that led out into an alleyway which would lead them out back into the centre of London; which was luckily enough the exact location she wanted to be.
"So say we find Oriana," Kasumi quipped up behind her with a little tune escaping her lips in the form of a whistle. "What are we going to do next? I mean, Shepard could sure use our help don't you think? Maybe we could use the tech that I borrowed…"
"Stole," Miranda found herself correcting the master thief before she could stop herself, lifting up a hand to cover the smile she felt worming its way onto her face at her own ridiculous attempt at humour that she hoped the Japanese woman hadn't noticed.
She didn't even know where that attempt in humour had come from in the first place, had she gone insane without even realizing herself? Or perhaps Kasumi had managed to trick her as she had used to do back on the Normandy, coming in her office and stealing things and moving them until Miranda grew frustrated and went over to the Port Observation deck to give her a lecture about morals.
She hadn't known why she had bothered considering it seemed to have no effect on the other woman, in fact if Miranda actually had time later on she would indulge herself a little in asking what else Kasumi had robbed because it was obvious from the way Kasumi carried herself; the woman was a thief and she was very, very good at what she did.
Not that she would ever admit it to anyone (hell, she found it hard admitting it to herself) but Miranda admired Kasumi a little, she didn't deny her faults about being what most civilised people would describe as 'the scum of the city' and even revelled in it; she was an imperfect shard of diamond.
And Miranda was the exact opposite, which she knew without need of any fancy use of the extranet or perfect genes; Miranda took as much pride in herself as did Kasumi however it was remotely clear to a man buried six feet underground that they were both very different individuals with very different perspectives.
Kasumi may have been the imperfect shard, but to the world Miranda was the blessed diamond.
"Regardless if I stole your tech or not," Kasumi's words broke Miranda away from her own thoughts, drawing her gaze back down onto the thief that the brunette had just realized was a good head shorter than her; perhaps something to do with her origins? "I think the tech I've been working around with could help the growth of amino-acid foods that the Krogan are apparently looking for to help them with crops, that could be a big help to Shepard don't you think?"
"Whatever you deem necessary to send to Shepard then send it to her," Miranda informed her callously, not sounding at all concerned about whatever Kasumi had said and it sure didn't help that because of her tone Kasumi most likely thought she wasn't listening in the first place. "Right now we've got our own problems, finding my sister being one of them."
It didn't take a fool to guess that Kasumi was silently berating her behind her back at that one sentence alone, but Miranda didn't have time for such stupid games of cat and mouse when it came to Shepard and the Alliance; she had her sister to look for and Cerberus bases to blow up – helping Shepard would have to become a lesser priority until she had made sure Oriana was safe.
Once they entered the centre of London Miranda took Kasumi's wrist in her hand and pulled her along up towards the entrance of Big Ben, looking around hurriedly in the dark for movement before she pushed Kasumi in front of her with a hand curved around the thief's waist to help her movements in the pitch black.
Opening the entrance was no easy feat in the dark but by the time Miranda had finally done it she could hear the sounds of vehicles moving into the area, that signal alone being the one thing that made her push Kasumi more forcefully inside and turn back round to slam it closed; the echoing causing her to shudder as the sound of tyres finally faded off into the distance.
"You're a bit handsy aren't you?" Kasumi's voice piped up in her ear with a cheerful laugh accompanying her tease, causing Miranda to look down to see that her hands were still around Kasumi's waist and – oh honestly, couldn't the ridiculous thief act mature for once?
Rolling her eyes at the thief (despite knowing the thief wouldn't be able to see it) Miranda pushed Kasumi forward once more towards the steps, whispering a quiet 'be careful' when the other woman stumbled on the second step and lifting her arms up slightly in an attempt to guide her up the stairs.
The stairs were narrow and they were placed terribly in a looping pattern that made the possibility of falling much greater than either of them would have liked if Miranda had to guess, still, hiding in here was a necessary precaution that would probably save their lives and that was good enough for her and so it had to be good enough for Kasumi too with no questions asked.
After a few minutes of silence and walking up the stairs Kasumi finally found it within herself to break the silence that had passed between them both, stopping with her hand clenched tightly around a rail that they both finally had found midway up the long staircase.
"Could we wait for a second? I'm, uhm, feeling a little claustrophobic here." Kasumi whispered with a little shake of her head, her free hand coming up to dab at the sweat that layered her forehead. "Never liked tight spaces, don't know how you can stand being in that cat suit all the time."
Miranda restrained herself from saying something catty back by allowing some sort of sympathy for the thief to overtake her movements and for that reason alone did she find her hand on the thief's back, rubbing soothing circles which contrasted greatly with her next words. "If you don't hurry up I'm going to have to carry you up, now come on before someone see's us in one of these windows."
Miranda could just about see Kasumi's face turning to glower at her in the dark because even under the cover of her hood it's quite easy to tell when Kasumi didn't find something amusing, and well that just made Miranda smirk (knowing it's hidden in the darkness of the night) because the thief isn't the only one who's good at teasing; if anything Miranda's far superior at it. Just more subtle.
Kasumi grunted in indignation at the older woman's pushiness, yet just when it looked like the thief was finally going to move her ass forward Kasumi hesitated and turned so that her body took up the narrow staircase up to the clock of Big Ben; blocking Miranda entrance with her stance of legs apart.
"Fine then, looks like you're going to carry me up here because I honestly think I'm going to be sick if I end up walking up one more step." Kasumi told her with a tone Miranda found hard to take serious, however before she could protest of this foolish notion any further the thief had jumped with her legs wrapping around Miranda's waist with such force it took everything not to lose her balance.
"You fucking imbecile!" Miranda actually swore this time, a very out of character thing for her considering she always took it upon herself to remain as deadly calm as possible but bearing in mind she had almost fallen down due to the thief's ridiculous stunt she believed she had a very good reason to lose her nerve with the (fucking) idiotic thief at least once.
Kasumi cooed a low sound into Miranda's ear at that, clicking her tongue to tut, no doubt at the words that had escaped Miranda's mouth. "You know I didn't expect that from you, besides you did offer to carry me. Now up we go! Quick sticks!"
Miranda found herself sighing in annoyance and very quickly she lost the will to fight with the thief any longer, sleep and frustration urging her on up the stairs with Kasumi's legs still wrapped firmly around her waist; an embarrassing spectacle if anyone else came upon them but considering she and Kasumi were the only people here at the moment Miranda let her mind rest easy.
"For such a petite woman you're quite heavy," still that didn't mean she couldn't complain, her bones ached from lack of rest and it felt as though every bit of movement was just another added addition to the weariness that made her feel as though she was sinking. "How you think wrapping your legs around my waist is appropriate I'll never know."
"Well your hands were on my waist so you can talk." Kasumi argued back and without even actually seeing her face Miranda can tell she's rolling her eyes. "I'm sure Shepard would disapprove immensely."
"I was giving you support!" Miranda growled out through gritted teeth, slapping down hard on the thief's thighs so hard that immediately Kasumi dropped to her feet to give Miranda the entry she needed to push back and make her way up the stairs in front. "Now come on, you're holding me up."
Once they had finally gotten to the clock's face Miranda watched with silent amusement as the thief collapsed onto the floor with a tired yawn escaping her, it looked like the day's events had gotten to the thief and now with nowhere else to go Kasumi had pretty much curled up on the floor to sleep; it would have been endearing if Miranda didn't feel so frustrated as she did now.
Waltzing over with her arms crossed to stare down at the scenery of London Miranda Lawson found herself in the sticky situation of not knowing what to do, it was a hard thing not knowing what to do despite having everything she needed right here with her but if that was true then why did Miranda feel as though she was missing something completely?
Quickly glancing at her surroundings Miranda felt a smile sneak its way onto her face at the basic essentials a Cerberus safe house contained, what made the lodging of staying in Big Ben's tower that much more amusing was the fact that Big Ben was (by no means) under any surveillance from the Alliance despite it being one of the greatest wonders when it came to the human race; which had of course made the making of it into an old Cerberus safe house that much more ironic.
Of course the Alliance would find out sooner or later, that Miranda had no doubt of, but she knew the way they worked and she knew very well that by the time the Alliance had finally sniffed her out then she and Kasumi would be long gone from this place and every bit of information along with them.
It was just one room of course, but for now it would have to serve as her base of operations until the time came when she would be able to leave the Sol system again and even then she didn't know when that time could be because she had no idea if Travis had waited around like he said he would have; knowing him, probably not, he never was reliable.
"Why is there furniture and bedding up here? Hell, even a terminal! What the…" Kasumi's voice distracted her once again and with a snort Miranda realized that now the master thief was slouched on the crimson couch that was pushed up against the wall, next to the terminal that had already started to beep and light up as it acknowledged their presence.
At that beep Miranda's eyes widened and with immediate haste she went around the room with her omni-tool, checking for camera's and devices behind the mortar and brick because whilst in truth Miranda had used this safe house before and had made sure back in that time that there was nothing like bugs that could watch her she still didn't want to risk it, besides if it wasn't Cerberus watching her then she knew the next exact person it would be.
She had been there when Shepard, herself and Liara T'Soni had defeated the Shadow Broker and then had stolen his ship; it had been an unforgettable event what with your head being nearly smashed to an almost pulpy mass by a large, metallic desk being thrown at you.
Miranda couldn't even remember waking up to it properly until Shepard's face hovered over her, all bloody and bruised and for a moment Miranda wondered if she could fall more in love with her before she tossed away the idea as if it was a ludicrous waste of her time to think of such things at that moment in time.
Shepard hadn't stopped looking at her however, eyes still too wide and too concerned and it had been too much for Miranda to handle, too much for her to grasp at and it had ended up with both of them frenziedly tearing at each other's armour the moment they had gotten onto the shuttle to take them back to the Normandy; an experience Miranda remembered all too well.
The thought of Shepard still left a bitter taste in her mouth: not even a goodbye that they deemed worthy of the other and yet when the words had left Shepard's mouth Miranda actually knew they meant 'goodbye' forever.
And yet Kasumi was here on Shepard's orders, protecting her (Miranda begged to differ on that one) when the Commander herself couldn't however if that was so then why in God's name did everything feel so uncertain? Why was Shepard so uncertain? Why did it have to happen right now when a Reaper invasion would be on them soon enough? How was that fair?
Still she couldn't let that thought become apparent in her actions and with a sigh of aggravation at her own distraction (not even Kasumi this time) Miranda let her omni-tool scans drop, satisfied that the room didn't seem to have any devices that could be used to spy on her or the thief.
"Looks like we're safe…" Miranda trailed off at the sound of buzzing noise that could only belong to the scanner that the terminal entailed and so when she looked back she could only half not believe that indeed Kasumi had managed to steal the piece of parchment and was now scanning it through the terminal's scanner.
Kasumi sent her a thumbs up with a wicked laugh soon after, it was both charming and irritating and Miranda found herself stuck in between wanting to smack the thief over the head or laughing at how easy the thief had made the theft look.
"Smug little thief," Miranda said instead, making sure her tone was a mix of annoyance and allure that she knew immediately by the way Kasumi's smile arched mischievously that the thief's interest was instantly piqued.
"You love it," Kasumi responded back with her smile fading slightly after what felt like years of eye-contact between them and looked back at the terminal with her back that had formerly been slouched now ram-rod straight. "But uhm yeah, this parchment is actually quite interesting because it's a total fake! These ships aren't even real and yet they're on the shipping records and just, wow. This is some…really good stuff you have here Miranda."
Miranda didn't even have to pretend she had no idea what she had suddenly said to make Kasumi act as though she was on a whole different level, planet, universe, whatever from her when it came to professionalism although she figured it had something to do with Shepard; most things did when it came to Kasumi considering how close those two were.
She took it as a sign that Kasumi herself hadn't seen much of Shepard apart from a few chats, Miranda could sympathize if she tried hard but in all honesty it was hard to take sympathy on a friendship that was so strong that Miranda doubted even she could break them apart; not that she would want to, even she found some things slightly cute – though if anyone mentioned that then they would have to take being buried six feet underground as something they 'most certainly' had coming.
Either way it wasn't a thing Miranda had time to worry about and with a step forward in the direction of the terminal she graced Kasumi with her presence, grabbing a chair and settling next to the thief so they could look at the contents of the parchment together.
"It's a technology based blueprint of what Cerberus was working on when I left," Miranda started to explain, eyes lighting up in a vicious excitement that took away the pangs of hunger and the weariness in her bones. "Because shipping ports are known to delete their records a few days after the ship has gone I snuck this into the old shipping records, it was merely a prototype when I obtained it but with a few tweaks I can access every space port in the galaxy with just a press of my fingers."
Kasumi stared at her for a second, mouth open and very much looking like a fish out of water that had only just realized they were looking into the eyes of a very hungry fisherman.
"You know, I think I may love you a little." Kasumi breathed out with her cheeks flushed in what Miranda assumed to be awe, which was expected if she was honest; she was quite impressive after all, not that she liked to brag or anything. "That is seriously an awesome idea, how come Cerberus let you have it?"
"Who said they let me have it?"
"Point taken, still, it's pretty amazing." Kasumi continued to compliment the parchment scanning with a nod of her head, the action causing Miranda to wriggle uncomfortably on her seat; praise from the thief was something she had not expected and now she felt ridiculous at how she was acting like a new-born child revelling in the praise that had been given to her. Stupid, stupid, stupid…
Miranda's ears perked up at the sound of what she thought to be a roar reached her ears, making her twitch in her seat and look around for where the source of the noise was coming from.
An embarrassed chuckle answered her a few minutes later and when she turned she could see that the thief had gotten up from her chair and was rubbing her stomach at a vigorous pace.
The brunette attempted not to notice and instead settled into the chair the thief had gotten up from, opening up a game of Solitaire to entertain her (even for a brief moment) enough until the scanning had been completed and she would be able to gain access to London's main docking port herself and Kasumi had come from.
She noticed that the master thief however was not as focused and with an irritated grumble Miranda opened her mouth to speak in what she pressed to be a softer tone than her usually sharp snap of words and teeth. "If you're hungry then I'll go and fetch you something to eat."
Kasumi actually seemed amused at her choice of conversation. "What? You go fetch food? For someone on the run you do try horrendously hard to get caught and besides, you and I both know you wouldn't have anything to eat if you went to get the food."
Miranda didn't fully know what to assume when the thief said that but whatever it was she chose to ignore anyway with one little roll of her eyes, allowing herself to become transfixed in the game of Solitaire and silently wondering why such a stupidly addictive game such as this hadn't died out ages ago.
"Thank you for volunteering yourself to go get food then," Miranda responded with an almost smug tone, pleased that she had somehow managed to get one up over the thief even if it was such a small victory considering Kasumi obviously didn't give two flying fucks about what she had to do. "I'm sure you'll be fine climbing up all those stairs once again."
"You are a complete dick," Kasumi responded sourly with her usual sarcastic tone that she took upon herself when she was tired; Miranda just knew about these sort of things, you had no choice but to know about them when they were a companion with you going into the terrifying jaws of a suicide mission. "For that I'm getting you the biggest meal I can carry and making sure you eat every bit, though that's not much of a payback I admit…"
Kasumi," Miranda said the thief's name as loud as she possibly could without sounding as though she was going to start yelling to the heavens any time soon. "Stop being stupid and go get some food, we'll both need it if we're going to be here for tonight."
"Finally, something we can agree on!" Kasumi muttered with another click of her tongue, causing Miranda to grumble softly to herself as she watched the thief turn a corner and depart down Big Ben's stairs.
"I think I'll have...mhmm…"
Rory didn't really wish to be here in a chip shop near the centre of London, hell he would rather be anywhere but here however he knew if he moved from his post then that damn turian geezer would clip his ear; damn alien who didn't even belong here in the first place.
And now he had this woman in here who he was sure either had a weird sense of fashion with the dark hood covering her face or was someone who was supposed to be hiding, either way he didn't quite care once he took into consideration that truly it didn't matter as long as her credits were going into his pocket.
That was if she made her damn mind up in time before his shift ended, right now she had been in here for a good five minutes and it was just lucky it was so late that nobody else was waiting otherwise he would have had to kick her out due to delaying for so long.
He'd like to say that he didn't truly mind to be honest, but this was the future damn it! His great-great-great grandfather had worked in a chip shop back in the 21st century and here he was now, following in his footsteps because he had no other choice; man, who even wanted chips nowadays?
"You know this is so hard, just pick for me okay?" The hooded woman finally announced with a smile lighting up the little part of her face that Rory can see, an endearing smile he supposed though he would more than likely have found it more appealing if it wasn't for the fact that she had made him wait five minutes when he could have been doing something else.
He almost wanted to slam the plastic cover shut in her face, but with a grunt he controlled himself and started cutting up some fresh meat (a meat he knew not to question any longer) that would accompany the two meals she had told him to prepare because if there is anything that can make him move its money.
"On the latest news from the Battlespace HQ we are joined by a spokesman of Commander Shepard on where the young soldier has been since returning home to Vancouver to be put on trial for her actions of destroying the Bahak system, wiping out millions of batarian lives…"
Rory watched idly as the hooded woman seemed to stand up straighter at the news emitting from the radio signal that he had patched into a side wall, his eyes refusing to leave the twitchy movements of the other woman even when she returned his glances with her own, though with a much harsher look to them.
He simply shook his head and continued slicing away at the meat; he didn't need this today besides how was come everyone seemed to get like she did at the mention of Commander Shepard? Rory had always known from the start that one day she'd go too far in her delusions, he had always said, and yet people were acting surprised at what the Great Butcher of Torfan had done to some helpless batarians.
"Good evening, I'm Ronald Isaac, the speaker of Commander Song Shepard of the SR2 Normandy, from what I can say about recent events I politely inform you that personal questions about the Commander will not be answered." And finally here was the man himself, a useless tool to stuff into a room full of reporters and journalists all looking for a new story that would paint them in such a raw light that people would be foolish NOT to trust their intel.
Rory knew the type.
"Excuse me, but do you believe that Commander Shepard is right about…" A prolonged silence on the radio was actually more deafening than the sound of the woman's intake of breath, "the Reapers? It's rumoured that she has been hiding behind this excuse for a whole three years."
"Turn that off please," the hooded woman finally spoke up, startling Rory from his cutting and making him glance up to see that the woman was shaking in genuine distress. "I'm sorry; I just don't want to hear what they're going to say."
Rory didn't pretend to understand what the hell she was talking about; he instead continued placing the food in the container and kept doing so until his mouth started to run away with him before his mind could butt in and tell him to shut the hell up.
"They're just going to rip her apart," he started with a grumble that had become natural to him ever since working in this dingy place. "It's nothing new and it's nothing I didn't warn them about, soldiers are just politicians with guns."
Still he reached over to switch the radio off with a shrug of his shoulders, getting back to work and sealing the containers up before placing them into a cotton bag which he then passed back over, surprised to find that not only was the thief looking at him directly in the eye but she also had another menacing look on her face.
Still she didn't say anything and when Rory allowed himself to gulp she merely clicked her tongue slyly and waltzed out of his shop, hips swinging enough to catch his attention (again) until all of a sudden she disappeared with only a crackle of electricity.
"Fucking government spies…" He murmured with another snort, turning away to flick the radio back on.
When Kasumi finally arrived back to the safe house stationed away in Big Ben she was greeted with Miranda's face looking up at her from the mattress that had been tucked away in the far corner, now placed in the middle near the sofa and various other bits and pieces scattered around the tower.
"Wow, you're actually in bed?" Kasumi teased with a chuckle, making her way over to where the other woman sat on the mattress and passing her the container that contained her food, "did someone have to wrestle you in or something? I honestly thought it'd take more than that to get you into bed. Did you…"
"SUV Hawke," Miranda interrupted Kasumi mid-sentence, opening up her plastic container and nibbling at the corners of the square meat presented to her in an attempt to try and remain calm and not lose herself in anger.
Kasumi on the other hand, was completely oblivious. "Pardon?"
Miranda's eyes darkened with such vicious anger and resentment that for a moment Kasumi's heart stopped beating and shivers ran up and down her spine as though it was on replay, whatever had made her old XO so upset must have really been something that could worm under Miranda's skin without even Miranda herself knowing.
"The SUV Hawke," Miranda repeated only this time more slowly with her icy azure eyes penetrating deeper and deeper into Kasumi's skin until it felt as though her soul was screaming for mercy away from the former Cerberus operative's all-knowing gaze.
"Oriana was sent away on the SUV Hawke."
Oh the drama this presents. Will warn you however that I'll be skipping forward a couple of months later in the next chapter. For a very good reason, hope you're all continuing to enjoy and I have to let you know I'm loving all your reviews. Thanks!