Jack
It's all fucking fun and games until I get dragged into this shit. Miranda's got a hit on the new chick and just won't leave her alone. Personally I don't give two shits if the girl is fucked up in the head or whatever, as long as she doesn't poke her nose into my life, then I can live with ignoring her like I do with everyone else. I figure the reason the Cerberus Cheerleader is out to get her is because she makes her look like the mega bitch she really is. That or she's got some 10 year old crush on her.
Before, she could just point Shepard in the direction she wanted and he'd go. Not because he actually gave a fuck but because he had no choice. He's been brought back to life and put on this mission with a bunch of little Cerberus shits and no one he can trust. All he's given is that goody-goody Jacob and the queen bitch herself telling him to pick up people from the Illusive Man's dossiers.
Though once they picked up Shepard's old friend the Turian, things started to change… because now he was more getting more confident and now he had backup. Pretty soon he had that creepy scientist and me joining and then the balance of power shifted. Now Miranda can't just tell him what to do and when to do it as she had before, she was losing control. Only she didn't realize that then. No, she didn't realize what had been happening until the clusterfuck with the girl.
That shit was hilarious to watch her go through, I don't think I've ever seen anyone get so pissed off over something so stupid. And when she had to talk to the girl in Shepard's meeting… that was priceless. I didn't listen to much of what the girl said at first, I was too busy watching Miranda's face twitch in agitation in reaction to it. So after a while I decided to have a listen to what the fuss was about. She was talking about some Game of Thrones, I don't know what the fuck that is but it sounds like a nerd's game. Then she said she was fucking around with swords or some shit when she tried to join a bunch of other dorks and was just shut the fuck down. What a nerd. She even laughed it off too so at least we know she's not one of those uptight bitches. She has that going for her at least. Correction… had.
Any neutral feelings I had toward that chick had diminished the moment Resting-Bitch-Face came strolling down to my pit, telling me that I had to report to combat training.
"Why the fuck should I? You know I only take orders from Shepard."
"Because Shepard isn't here and his absence puts me in command."
"Last I checked you don't have a dick so stop acting like one."
"This is serious Jack. I may have had reservations about your dossier before but I can still see the potential you bring to this team and appreciate it. I can't say the same thing about this Sailor Moon or whatever she's called, we have nothing to go off of."
"Shepard doesn't seem to give a fuck and I sure as hell don't."
"Shepard is clearly under a lot of stress from the mission and as a result has been making questionable decisions. As for you, you should care because having this untrained girl on the mission could jeopardize us all."
"So what are you going to do about it and why does it involve me?"
"I discussed several options with Shepard and we agreed that a supervised sparring match would give us the evidence we need to determine if she is fit for combat situations. I was going to have Jacob do it but Shepard took him on the mission."
"It just sounds like you want me to beat the shit out of this girl. She's supposed to be from the past so she won't even know about biotics, doesn't seem fair."
"We expect the best for this mission. If she can't handle a fight against you then she's not the best and cannot be a part of the mission."
"And if she does?"
"Then you're not the best."
…
I walked into the training room to find Miranda looking pissy as ever.
"Where's your little girlfriend?"
"I just left the Tech Lab with her, I don't know where she… Oh my god. What are you wearing? Where did you even get that?"
Sailor Moon or Lucy or whateverthefuckhernameis came in wearing some sort of tight pant with a tank top, both of which looked like she dumped a shit-ton of glitter and sequins on them.
"Oh this old thing? Just something I pulled out of the closet on the port observation deck."
"The port observation deck doesn't have a closet."
"Oh that's right. Then I guess I had to make them out of ice because I've been trapped in a glacier for 167 years and all I have is one outfit that's not meant for fighting and Kelly's requisition order for more has yet to be filled in the 12 hours since it's been made."
Touché. This girl should be on the team for her ability silence Miranda alone.
After a moment of silent seething, Miranda made the call. "Get into position you two, we're starting."
We faced each other on separate sides of the sparring mat and crouched into position. She smiled at me.
"GO!" commanded Miranda.
I charged straight at the girl, feeling the sweet, warm feeling in my veins as my biotics powered up. I pulled my arm back preparing to send her flying when at the last second she ducked and rolled away from my punch. She's quick, I'll give her that. I spun around and shot out a Pull. The Pull-field landed right next to her. Can't move too quick when you're off the ground.
Lucy's eyes grew wide as she felt herself being lifted by the mass-lowering field. Tough luck kid, maybe next time. As she rose higher, her toes barely scraping the ground, she thrust her arms down and an icy blast shot down at her feet.
-Swishhhh-
She stood, feet held firmly in place on the ground by the ice as the Pull uselessly tugged at her then began to fade. Well, well… I guess I was wrong, looks like someone came ready to play. I pause to charge up for a Shockwave, she's not going anywhere anyway. Once I'm at full power I let it fly.
-POH POH POH POH-
The blasts advance towards her but just before it can hit it's mark on her stupid little face, she bends backwards until her hands are touching the floor behind her. The blast whizzes over her. I missed? I fucking missed. How the fuck did that happen?
"Then you're not the best." Miranda's words from earlier pop into my head.
"Dammit." I mutter under my breath. Time to take this seriously.
I charge after her again as she tries to pull herself off the ground, my biotics pulse as my anger fuels them. I saw straight into her eyes as I swing my arm around to give her a hook to the face but what I didn't see was her hands as they swept and dissipated the ice that held her in place and just like before, she dodged my fist. Now I'm getting really pissed off. She's too close to throw biotics at so I start throwing punches left and right, I kick in every direction getting more and more frustrated as she flips, rolls and dodges every one. Soon I'm not even using real moves, I'm just flailing my arms and legs out, just doing anything to fucking hit this girl once! Nothing!
My arms are now burning, my legs exhausted… I can't keep this up much longer. Then it hit me, actually she hit me. She had been waiting me out the entire time waiting for the perfect moment to strike back in a single shot. I had played right into her strategy and pushed myself to the point where I didn't even have the energy to try to throw up a barrier or hell, even just my arms to shield myself, when she thrust an ice hardened fist in my gut. I was down for the count.
Damn. I should have been more pissed for being beat but fuck it, I'm too tired. This isn't even my battle, its Miranda's.
"I'm done." I say aloud for Miranda to hear. Sorry, looks like the new girl stays.
"What the hell was that, were you even trying? You escaped from Purgatory yet you couldn't hit her even once?"
"Shut up, bitch. You know I don't do hand-to-hand combat."
"If you want something done properly…" Miranda mumbled to herself as she approached me. "Get up and wait over there. You…" she points to Lucy, "You will be sparring with me."
"With you? But you said I just had to spar with Jack and then I was done."
"I said you would be fighting against opponents I deem appropriate. I believe Jack was going a little easy on you so I will have to become involved personally."
"I'm sure you would love to be 'involved personally'." I yell at Miranda
"Shut up, Jack." She growls back.
This fight is going to be good.
"Ready…" begins Miranda, arms starting to glow blue, "GO!"
Miranda charges at Lucy and thrusts her arm out to punch, and just like she did with me, she dodges, that slippery little bitch. Always quick to anger when it comes to certain people, Miranda begins throwing out swift kicks and punches, each growing more erratic as they miss their marks. Shit, I hope I didn't look that bad.
"Arghhhh… !" she growls between punches. "Stop running away!"
"So you can hit me? I don't think so." Lucy retorts as she dodges yet another sweep of Miranda's leg. "By the way, how's your plan of removing me from the ship coming?"
"What's going on here?"
I turn and it's Shepard with Jacob and the Turian.
"We're just having ourselves a little training match, Miranda's orders. I think she wants to instigate a mutiny." I look back at the cat fight still taking place, they didn't notice the others come in.
"How's it going?
"I don't want to talk about it… but Miranda wasn't satisfied with the result so she jumped in to finish the job herself."
Jacob spoke up next, "What is she trying to accomplish with all this?"
Then the Turian beat me to the answer "She wants the girl gone and bad. It's probably best we let her get this out of her system."
"Arghh… -huff- stop talking! And stop -huff- moving!"
"So I was wondering,…" a fist flies past her head "…do people still…" another fist flies at the other side of her head "…quote Mean Girls?" she does a back flip.
"I SAID STOP MOVING." Miranda shouts as a burst of blue biotics flashes. She glows blue and holds her arms up, in front of her is Lucy, trapped in a stasis field. Realizing what she had done, a cruel smile crept on her face, like a cat with a fat mouse in its claws.
She does her little sashay hip-swaying walk until she's face to face with the suspended girl. "Looks like you should have done a little less talking." She says with so much smugness it'd make anyone want to kick her teeth in. Lucy quirks up the side of her lips to form a crooked smile.
-crackkkkle, creaaak, crackkkkle-
"Ow… OW… ARGHH!" Miranda sheiks in pain clutching her fingers, releasing Lucy from the stasis field as the floor below her starts to form a thin sheet of ice.
"Looks like my frostbite is worse then my bark." Lucy quips and Miranda staggers back. "and none for Gretchen Wieners!" She shouts as she whips her leg around and sends Miranda skidding across the floor.
"Alright that's enough. I think we've got everything we need."
"Shepard?" sputters Miranda as she rolls to her hands and knees to get up "You're back? How long have you been here?"
"Long enough to see Lucy is capable enough to be a part of the team."
"But Shepard, I still… we have to…"
"We have to what? She's shown herself to be capable of taking on you and Jack in hand-to-hand as well as able to adapt and think quickly in a fight. She's with us. So get over it or get out, that's an order."
"…Yes Commander."
"Now I need all of you to focus, we've got a situation. Things didn't go as expected on Korlus, Okeer is dead."
"Dead? What happened?"
"He died protecting his research, a prototype for a pure Krogan. We've brought it onboard and have it waiting in Port Cargo."
"A pure Krogan? On the ship?"
"Relax, it's in a stasis pod." Assured Jacob.
"Good. I think bringing the Krogan was a good idea, we can study it."
"I don't intend to let it stay in stasis. Without Okeer, we don't have the heavy hitter we need and a pure Krogan would fix that and pack a hell of a punch."
"Yeah," I agree "Crack it open. Let's see what a pure Krogan's got."
"No, it's too dangerous! The value we get from studying it will be enough without waking it."
"Miranda this is your last warning or I'll have you removed from the mission for insubordination. This is my ship, I'm in charge, not you. We're releasing the Krogan."
"Yes Commander." Miranda's face, smooth and emotionless like stone.
We both knew that any shred of control she had over Shepard is gone now. It's about fucking time.
