Angel and the Demon

Chapter 8

Bioware owns the rights to all characters other than Samantha.

"So..." Shepard paused to collect her thoughts. "To save Admiral Koris we need to shut down a group of anti-aircraft cannons, let Cortez blow away a signal jamming tower, find the Admiral's location, then go pick him up."

"Affirmative, Commander." EDI said. Shepard shook her head.

"Had I known the mission was going to be this extensive I might not have brought my two tech experts."

"We won't let you down, Shepard." Tali said.

"I'm sure you won't. Ok. You know the drill. We'll only see geth here, so hack and overload to your heart's content. I'll handle the hunters. We'll concentrate fire on any primes we see."

"Understood, Commander." EDI said.

"No problem, Shepard. Keelah Se'lai" Tali said.

The area they were running through was littered with evidence of the quarian Admiral's crash, including a several escape pods. Depressingly enough, they hadn't found any living quarians. None of this was necessary. If only the quarians waited until after the Reaper attack... She thought for a moment. If there's going to be an after... Shepard resolved to take her anger out on the geth.

The first cannon was surrounded by a few troops, but they were quickly dispatched. Shepard noticed Tali was hacking multiple geth at the same time. It was impressive.

"Tali, you're getting good at hacking these guys." Shepard said as they approached the interface panel for the huge weapon.

"Well, I didn't just sit around while you were locked away." She smiled at Shepard.

"Obviously not." Shepard smiled back. She'd missed her favorite quarian.

"I received a message from Kasumi after the quarian communication black-out was rescinded." Tali told her. EDI accessed the console, starting the laborious process of shutting down the cannon.

"You did? Did she complain about me getting her hurt again?" Shepard said.

"Kasumi was hurt! How was she hurt?!" Tali asked, slightly frantic. Shepard chided herself.

"Ummm..." Shepard started.

"This will take some time, Commander. The geth are likely to send reinforcements." EDI interrupted.

Shepard turned to see several geth troopers dropping within range. "Cerberus attacked the Citadel, and Kasumi got caught in the crossfire." She quickly answered. She decided to mention Thane later...and Mordin. "Take cover." She told Tali.

Tali sent Chatika towards the geth before ducking behind a low barrier. "Is she going to be ok?" She overloaded a rocket trooper before starting the hack on a nearby trooper.

"She'll be fine." Shepard said, taking out the rocket trooper Tali overloaded.

"She mentioned something about a bachelor party."

"Damn it, Kasumi." Shepard cursed.

"Are you getting bonded?" Tali asked, the hurt tone of her voice made it apparent she thought Shepard didn't invite her.

"Let's continue this conversation in a few minutes." Shepard told her, hopping up to tear through a hunter that was getting a little too close.

"Ok." Tali said, giving her a look.

"Prime." Shepard said. Tali overloaded the huge machine. Shepard sighted the things head and started pelting it with her pistol.

"Rocket." Tali said, ducking behind the barrier. Shepard joined her right before the rocket slammed the other side. She immediately hopped back up and continued her assault, switching to her SMG when her pistol was empty. The prime eventually exploded in a shower of sparks. Shepard grabbed all the ammo she could find before returning to Tali.

"Look, I haven't asked Miranda yet. Kasumi is the only person who knows I'm even thinking of asking her." She looked between Tali and EDI. "Except for you two, now. And if you tell a soul..." She put her hand on her pistol.

"Of course, Shepard." Tali sounded serious, but her eyes were smiling.

"Understood, Commander." EDI said. "The cannon is deactivated."

"Rest assured you and Garrus will be in the wedding party...assuming she says yes...and we live through this." She waved her hands at seemingly everything. "I might even force your cantankerous boyfriend to give me away."

"I'm sure she'll say yes, and Garrus won't mind at all." Tali said with a lilt in her voice.

"Now, if we're done discussing future plans for things that are unlikely to occur, let's get the next gun." She started walking away.

"Of course, Mrs. Lawson." Tali said gleefully.

"What?" Shepard turned and looked at her.

"Or was she going to take your name?" Tali asked innocently.

"There isn't any recognized convention when members of the same sex marry." EDI added helpfully.

"Now is not the time for this." Shepard glared at them, then turned and quickly walked away.

"Will you both walk down the aisle, or pick one of you to stand at the alter?" Tali asked.

"Even with thousands of years experience, asari culture has no cultural standard for same sex bonding ceremonies or the resulting union." EDI mentioned.

"Will you wear a white dress, or your dress whites?" Tali asked. "You look beautiful in a dress..." Shepard sighed.

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"Sir, we're having trouble maintaining the Reaper signal barrier." The technician told Henry Lawson. "There seems to be a counter signal coming from outside the facility."

"Return the subjects to their containment pens immediately, then bring down the barrier. We'll see if the counter signal persists." Henry told the tech, stroking his chin.

"Yes sir."

Henry thought for a minute. "Can you tell where the counter signal is coming from?"

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Shepard looked at Legion, then looked at the interface pod, then back at Legion.

"Let me see if I have this straight...I get in this pod-thing, and you will transfer me into the geth network virtually. Once inside you will lead me to virtual geth that I will destroy. This will disable the actual fighters that are attacking the quarian liveships in the real universe." She looked at Legion. "That about cover it?"

"Affirmative, Shepard Commander." It told her.

They found Legion during their battle within a geth dreadnought, strapped into some kind of Reaper apparatus. The Reapers were using it as some sort of signal booster. Looking at the only friendly geth she'd ever met, Shepard was reminded of the harrowing few minutes following his release.

Immediately after he was disengaged from the Reaper restraints, Legion shut down the drive core of the dreadnought they were in. "As a gesture of good will." It said. Since the kinetic barriers and shields went down immediately, the Admiral of the quarian heavy fleet immediately ordered an attack on the huge vessel, ignoring the fact that they were still on board. It was only through Legion's assistance that they escaped before the dreadnought was blown to scrap metal. Shepard barely kept her anger in check when she met the head of the heavy fleet, Admiral Gerrel, back on the Normandy. The threat to her own life was bad enough, but what kind of Admiral would treat the life of Tali, their geth expert and a fellow Admiral, so shamefully? She threw him off the Normandy just to keep herself from punching him.

Even after all that, the geth were still under Reaper control. Without the dreadnought the Reaper signal was reduced, but not eliminated. Legion let them know there was a hidden reaper base creating its own control signal. Unfortunately they didn't know where it was.

Right now they needed to access a geth server and destroy the geth housed within. This would somehow save the quarian liveships currently under attack by geth fighters.

Shepard glanced around the room. There were dozens of pods holding geth primes scattered around the room. She looked at the empty pod and sighed.

"Are you sure about this, Shepard?" Tali asked, nervously fidgeting. EDI stood at her side, appearing unconcerned.

"No, but we need to release the geth from Reaper control." Shepard crawled into the pod, and tried to relax.

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Miranda made up her mind. She had to go to Sanctuary, and it would be best if Sam didn't know she was leaving for as long as possible. She took her back-up suit from Sam's closet and put it on. Her shoulder still hurt, but she could not delay further. She left Sam a message on her private terminal, then headed for the shuttle bay.

"What brings you down here, Frost?" James shocked her. He was working out on a makeshift pull-up bar.

"Frost?" She asked. He dropped down from the bar.

"I make up nicknames for everyone. The Commander is Lola. The asari is Doc. The turian is Scars."

"And I'm Frost..." She said, her eyes narrowing. "Because I'm an ice queen bitch. Right?"

"Because you're the ice queen. I wouldn't add the b-word." He gave her a smirk. "The Commander would do something nasty to me."

"Probably." She smiled back. "James, I need to borrow the back-up shuttle."

"What do you need it for?"

"I need to rescue my sister."

"I'm sure Lola would help if you wait until she gets back." James told her.

"I can't wait, and what she's doing is too important." She said.

"I see."

"Can you operate the air locks?"

He looked nervous. "I'm not sure..."

"Please, James. I don't want to distract her from the quarian conflict."

He still looked unsure. He was obviously torn between regulations and his dedication to Shepard personally.

"You can tell Shepard when she gets back. I will need her help by then."

"Alright." He said eventually.

"Thank you, James."

He followed her to the shuttle, releasing the manual lock. She climbed in and conducted the pre-flight check.

"Operative Lawson, I have no flights scheduled for you today." EDI's voice sounded through the shuttle speakers. Miranda sighed. James opened the first of the two airlock doors.

"I know, EDI. There's something I need to take care of on Horizon."

"Shuttle flights are required to be approved by the Commander." EDI told her.

"EDI, please! I have to rescue my sister. I also know how important the quarian fleet is to the war effort." She said to the ceiling, realizing that wasn't where EDI was located.

"I will ask the Commander for verbal approval, she is standing next to me." EDI said.

"No! Wait!" Miranda practically yelled at the speakers. "If you tell her she will be conflicted. Her priority needs to stay with the quarians."

EDI was silent for a moment. "Your justification is sound, Operative Lawson. The Commander is occasionally illogical when weighing personal issues against Alliance requirements. More often with your requests than any other member of the crew." The shuttle powered up. Miranda sighed with relief. "Your mission will have a greater chance of success if you take additional resources."

"Thank you, EDI, but I won't endanger other members of the team. You may notify Shepard after her current mission, or let her find the message I left her… your choice."

Miranda flew the shuttle into the airlock, which closed behind it. She input Sanctuary into the guidance system.

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"Sir! Another harvester dropped more cannibals out front!"

"Send the last security squad there." Henry Lawson told his surveillance tech. He turned to his communication technician. "Tell the Illusive Man that if he doesn't send more troops within the next hour I will dump all our data to the net."

"He says they are on their way." The tech said. Henry nodded.

"How did they find us..." He pondered to himself.

"The scientists think the Reaper signal is intelligent enough to identify where it is actively inhibited." His assistant said from next to him. Henry watched the debacle unfold on the monitors. Harvesters were dropping Reaper forces in front of the facility. The Cerberus security force was holding so far, but there was no end to the Reaper forces. They would breach the facility in time.

He reached forward and switched a set of monitors to the laboratory. All their test subjects were completely under Reaper control. They banged and scratched at their enclosures. He switched to the high security wing. One of the asari banshees threw a biotic attack that slammed against the wall of her cage. He switched the view to their most dangerous occupants, only to see a brute slam into the wall of his cage hard enough to shake the camera. The wall was cracked in several spots already. Henry jerked back in alarm. The brute slammed into the wall again.

"Get a squad into the high security wing!" He shouted.

"They're all out front." The security tech announced. "Do you want me to pull them back into the facility?"

Before Henry could answer, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. On one of the internal security monitors far to the right, a figure crept down a hallway.

"Oriana." He said, anger spilling from him. Of all the times for her to escape. He looked at his guard detail. "Come with me." He quickly moved to the door with the two phantoms in tow. "Keep me apprised of her location." he told the security team. He opened the door and left. The technicians looked at each other in confusion.

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"Well, that was interesting." Shepard said. She stepped out of the interface pod and looked at Tali.

"Are you alright, Shepard?" Tali asked.

"Did it work?" Shepard asked.

"The geth fighter squadrons attacking the liveships have withdrawn. The server is offline." EDI told her. Legion woke from his frozen state. Soon after the geth primes in the pods surrounding them lit up. The pod doors swung open, and the primes exited. Shepard, Tali, and EDI pulled their weapons from their backs.

"Are you sure?" Shepard asked. She knew they'd never be able to defeat this many primes.

"Keelah." Tali said from behind her. The huge number of primes surrounded them, standing silently at attention.

"What's happening?" Shepard asked.

"We have transferred geth programs from the server into these platforms." Legion told her.

"Why?" Shepard asked.

"They wish to join us." Legion said. Shepard's jaw dropped.

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Miranda landed her shuttle well away from the Sanctuary facility. As she suspected, it was under heavy Reaper attack, and she didn't wish to be shot down. She could see harvesters circling in the distance as she made her way to the facility on foot. The facility wing she was approaching wasn't under Reaper attack, likely because it was mostly empty. The plans she studied showed warehouse space.

She climbed a ladder and found a maintenance hatch. She hacked in. Thank you Kasumi. Once inside she dropped into a warehouse area. Large crates were lined on either side of a long straight passage. She ran to the other end of the large room, opening the door to find a long hallway.

She found a few likely locations for Oriana's cell when she studied the facility plans the night before, but they might have changed something. She had to be ready for anything.

Knowing the facility would be under surveillance, even during an attack, she climbed a ladder to a maintenance panel. Her shoulder was still giving her trouble, so she used her offhand to pry the panel from the wall.

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"Damn woman." Shepard said as she looked at her private terminal. She read Miranda's message a second time.

Sam,

Liara tracked a massive order of high-tech scientific equipment to the Alliance refugee center called Sanctuary, which would be neither needed nor wanted at a facility doing its best to feed and clothe thousands of refugees. I also found scholastic instructor requests for the same facility, within Cerberus channels. A highly unusual occurrence.

I would like to wait until you have secured the quarian fleet to begin an assault with you, however incoming and outgoing communications from the facility have completely stopped. I am concerned there might be a Reaper assault in progress. I need to go immediately.

Please do not be mad. Finish with the quarians, then come to Horizon. EDI can show you my exact trajectory. I'm going to find Oriana and hole up somewhere. I'll be waiting for you.

I love you,

Miranda

The trip to Sanctuary was less than a day, but Shepard knew she couldn't take the time away. The quarians were being decimated. She had to destroy the Reaper base.

Miranda was right, but that didn't make it any more easy to swallow. Once again you've put yourself in danger, Angel. And I can't be there to protect you.

"Damn." She activated her comm link. "Tali, Garrus, suit up. We've got a Reaper base to destroy."

"You got it Shepard." Garrus chimed back.

"Be right there, Shepard." Tali responded.

"Assuming we can keep Admiral Han'Gerrel from shooting at us..."

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Oriana jogged down a hallway. She didn't have any idea which direction to go, but she knew she had to move. No doubt the surveillance cameras were keeping track of her. She was surprised no one had stopped her yet. She saw one squad of Cerberus troops when she rounded a corner, but they jogged away from her. She turned and opened another door in the opposite direction. It looked like a security outpost, complete with scanner and guard stations, but it was empty. She walked through the scanner to the door beyond.

She was proud of herself for breaking the lock on her cell door. It wasn't much of a lock, but she wasn't allowed tools. Salvation came from analyzing the ridiculous shoes her father supplied her. She found one with a metal support in the heel. She hid the shoe away from the camera and put it under her pillow. Once the lights were shut off she slowly but surely tore the shoe apart, making sure to keep her hands under her pillow. They would have night vision on the camera, after all. By the next morning she had a short but strong length of metal. When the door closed after her last instructor of the day, she slid the metal between the door lock and the frame.

The area beyond the security station appeared to be the barracks for the security force. No one was around. She noticed an empty gun rack on the wall. Looks like my prediction about the Reapers came true… or the Alliance is mounting an attack. She briefly considered the possibility that Commander Shepard might come for her, but didn't want to set her hopes too high. Oriana turned and left the area, there was no doubt this area was under surveillance.

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Miranda dropped from the ceiling in front of possible Oriana cell number three. The hallway was clear in both directions. The touch screen next to the door was flashing red, with a worry-some "unauthorized entry" flashing across the screen. She ran through several scenarios to cause the warning, and none were good. She touched the screen to clear the message, then started her hack.

She was in a location near the center of the facility. Storage and living quarters were to the left, where she came from. The security force was centered behind her, though she had yet to see a single guard. The entrance and processing area was to her front. She was pretty sure the laboratories would be to her right, but hadn't seen them yet.

She hacked into the surveillance system several minutes ago, and the battle outside the entrance was not going well. She also found a feed from the labs, and found the situation there badly deteriorated. Several brutes had broken out of their cages and torn up their wing. The brutes' actions set free several banshees and cannibals.

Her hack succeeded, and the door unlatched. Miranda entered. The room couldn't be anything but Oriana's prison. Set in the princess style her father favored, it contained a canopy bed, a small desk, and armoire with a pass through back. A thorough search did not reveal her sister. All the clothes and shoes were the correct sizes. She also found some papers with her name on them.

"Damn." Miranda said. She sat on the bed, choking back tears. I finally find my sister's prison, and she's been moved. She flopped backwards on the bed. Something not comfortable poked her in the back.

She rolled over and reached under the covers. A shoe. The shoe was torn to shreds, with the heel split along a seam. Opening the seam she discovered a void. …where normally a shoe would have a support, possibly metal. She dropped the shoe, and approached the door. The doorframe was scratched, right next to the locking mechanism. Oriana wasn't taken, she escaped! It explained the warning on the touchscreen outside the door.

Miranda leapt up and ran out the door, only to run straight into someone. She saw a flash of metal and rolled away. The sword cut through her suit on her left side. She pulled out her pistol and stood up.

"You?" She said, looking at a clone of herself. She backed away, checking her wound. It was a graze, slashing through her armor, but barely cutting through the skin.

"Darling..." The clone said in a sultry version her voice. It smiled wide. "So nice to see you." It held its sword over its head in a flamboyant pose.

"I'll bet." Miranda said before throwing a warp at the imposter. The warp threw it to the ground. It leapt up. She fired an entire clip of bullets at it, and it dodged every single one. Damn, she's good.

She rolled away again as the sword sliced towards her. She popped out her spent clip, then slapped in another, still retreating from the clone. It took another swipe at her. She ducked under the blade and threw a warp into its midsection. The warp smacked it against a wall. She didn't give it a chance to move, shooting it until her clip was spent. A final warp for good measure and the clone was a bloody mess.

"Bitch." Miranda said. She put another clip in her pistol. She slathered her wound with some medi gel.

She checked the hallway behind her, then jumped over the body and ran towards the laboratories.

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Henry Lawson was not having a good day.

First, harvesters started dropping cannibals, marauders, and husks outside the processing center. His entire security force was barely holding them off. The Illusive man notified them that troops were coming, but didn't have an ETA.

Then, his daughter escaped from her room. He still had no confirmation about how.

Next, the high security wing was torn to pieces by a pair of escaped brutes, releasing several types of Reapers into the facility.

Also, his elder daughter, who was supposed to be dead, showed up and found a way into the facility. He'd glimpsed her crawling into a maintenance hatch. He assumed it was one of the clones at first, but the on-site pair assured him they were well away from her location. The Illusive man was very upset to find this out.

And now, to top the entire miserable day off, he was facing down a banshee with only two phantoms to protect him. The ugly thing surprised them when they were halfway through a large lab. They couldn't reach safety.

The first one instantly fell to the banshee's first attack. Its blazing ball of biotic energy tore the phantom apart. The second phantom managed to cloak, but the banshee could see through the deception. Henry pulled out his pistol, knowing it wouldn't do nearly enough damage to break through the banshee's barrier.

The banshee used a biotic jump to appear right in front of the phantom. The phantom slashed upward quickly, taking off one of the banshees arms. It shrieked in pain. Black blood spouted from the stump. The phantom flipped backwards away from the creature.

"What are you doing? Finish it off!" Henry yelled. The phantom ignored him. The banshee stopped howling, and jumped towards the guard again. The phantom was ready and stabbed the sword through its middle.

The creature blasted out a biotic wave as it died, knocking Henry off his feet into a table. He picked himself up, rubbing his sore back. The phantom was in a heap on the ground, not moving.

"You alright, sir?" His assistant asked through his comm link.

"I'm fine." He walked over to the phantom, checking for life. "Both my guards are dead, is there anyone you can send as a replacement?"

"Not unless we pull someone off the front lines. The final clone is on the other side of the facility, and will take some time to reach you." He said.

"Final clone? There were two." Henry said.

"Miranda found Oriana's room. We sent one of the clones after her and..."

"Miranda killed her?" Henry groaned.

"Yes sir." He frowned.

"Where is she?" He asked.

"She was headed towards the labs, but she found another maintenance panel, so her exact location is unknown."

"And where is Oriana?" Henry asked.

"Somewhere in the labs. A lot of the cameras are destroyed there. She was last seen in clean room 13C." His assistant told him.

"I see. Send the clone to me. I will make my way into the labs."

"The next couple of rooms are empty, sir."

"Too bad you couldn't see into this one." He said before shutting off the link.

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"The living room window will go there." Tali held her hands up in a square. The square overlooked a stunning cliff lined ocean view.

"Staking your claim, Tali?" Shepard asked through a grin. Rannoch was a beautiful arid planet, complete with striking canyons and stunning waterways. The rock monoliths and arches reminded Shepard of the American southwest. She was starting to understand the quarian desire to return, beyond the simple need for a home planet.

"I know it doesn't mean much, but when this is over, I'll have a home." Tali said.

"You've spent your whole life as a nomad. Think you can handle settling down in one place?" Shepard asked.

"It will be a change, for sure. But I think I'm ready for it." Tali looked at her. "What about you? You've lived on ships for most of your life. You going to settle down?"

"Maybe, when this is all over...if I live. I'll find somewhere nice to retire." Shepard thought about it occasionally, but she didn't spend much time dwelling on it. She gave herself pretty low odds for surviving. "What about you, Garrus? Living room window there sound good?" Shepard looked back at the turian, whose mandibles started to nervously twitch.

"Ummm..." Was all he could manage.

"I'm just messing with you, Garrus." Shepard knew they weren't quite to that point in their relationship. She clapped him on the back, then gave Tali a quick hug. "Come on you two, let's kill this Reaper signal."

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Oriana ducked behind a desk again. The ugly creature passed by the room's windows for the eighth time. She didn't know how she was going to get out of the lab if it kept pacing. She wasn't entirely sure how she got into the place without being seen.

She had no idea what the creature was. It was taller than her with a huge mess of a head. Actually, its whole body was a mess. Luckily it moved pretty slow. She wasn't sure if it was scarier than the other creature she saw earlier. That one looked almost like an asari, but stretched, wrinkly, and grey. Luckily it had been trapped on the other side of a thick piece of glass.

The ugly creature moved past the end of the windows, and out of her vision. She crawled around the desk and up to the windows. The creature was still moving away. She moved to the other end of the room to the door. She peeked out and saw it had not deviated from its path. As quietly as possible she crept away from the creature and into the next office. The room they were in was a long laboratory, with equipment against one wall, and a string of offices along the other.

Again finding a scientist's office, she hid against the wall. There were terminals and small lab equipment throughout the room. Hearing nothing, she peeked down towards the creature. It was coming back. She hid behind the desk. How did you get yourself in this mess? You escaped from your prison only to find the labs full of horror movie creatures. Then, you managed to get yourself stuck between a couple of them...leaving hiding as your only option. She peeked over the desk to see the creature right on the other side. She ducked back down. I wish Miranda was here. She'd know what to do with these bastards. Thoughts of Miranda brought tears to her eyes. Damn it, Sis. How could anyone kill you? She wiped her eyes.

After another couple minutes of waiting, she peeked down the long room to see the creature moving away again. There were only a couple more offices between her and the exit. She decided to make a run for it, and jogged to the exit. The creature howled behind her. She slammed through the door, locking it behind her.

Noises behind her brought her head around. There were about four creatures milling about at the far end of the room. They were shaped like humans, but the similarity ended there. They were grey with weird coils and glowing spots. They became aware of her, and started running towards her.

There was a gasp behind her. "Oriana! Get behind me!"

She turned to see...Miranda! But she died! It can't be the real Miranda. She stood frozen. A shot rang out. She turned back to see one of the creatures a meter from her. It was missing a head, and crumpled to the ground. Another one was approaching fast.

"Oriana!" She turned back to Miranda. The creature in the last room slammed into the door next to her. Another shot rang out. She bolted towards Miranda.

She put herself behind the clone, but didn't get too close. The clone threw out a biotic attack, then shot out the legs of another of the creatures. Two more shots of her pistol, and all of them were dead.

"Damn husks." the clone said. Husks? "Are you hurt?" She walked towards Oriana. Oriana backed away. Miranda looked confused.

"No." Oriana said. The creature in the other room slammed against the door again. Miranda whirled around, pistol raised. She moved to the side, keeping her weapon trained on the door. She popped the clip out of her gun and replaced it.

The creature broke the door frame, which splintered, throwing pieces of metal into the room. The next blow tossed the door across the room.

"Cannibal!" Miranda yelled. The creature lumbered at her. She threw a biotic attack, then shot her pistol until it was empty. They didn't seem to slow it down. She threw another biotic attack, then reloaded her pistol. The creature stooped and started eating from a dead husk on the floor. Oriana almost threw up. She held her hand over her mouth and backed to the wall. The cannibal seemed to grow some extra plating on its shoulders.

"Damn it." The clone said. She emptied another clip into the disgusting creature, then threw another biotic attack. The creature hit her with some kind of attack, knocking out her shields. The Miranda clone cursed under her breath, reloading her pistol. She used another biotic attack. After the creature finally dropped, the clone turned back to Oriana.

"Are you ok?" She walked towards Oriana, who bumped into the wall trying to stay away. The Miranda clone stopped, looking confused again.

"Where's Sam?" Oriana asked.

"Helping the quarians on Rannoch, last I heard. She should be here tomorrow." Good answer, but it wouldn't take a lot of imagination to figure out who Sam might be, or guess where she might be. Miranda put her gun away and stood as non-threatening as possible. Let's try something a little more difficult.

"What did you wear on your first date with Sam?" She asked.

"Black spaghetti strap top and white pants if I recall..." Oriana lunged across the space between and knocked Miranda over with a tight hug.

"Miranda! Henry said you were dead!" Miranda winced, but hugged her back.

"I almost was." She kissed Oriana's head. "I'll tell you all about it. Let's get someplace safe." Oriana helped her up. She was holding her shoulder.

"Are you hurt?" Oriana asked.

"Yes, I'll tell you as soon as we're safe." Miranda scanned the room. She aimed into a corner, shooting once. Then did the same for a second corner.

"Cameras?" Oriana asked.

"Yes." Miranda said. She grabbed a table and pushed it over a meter, then crawled on top.

"Won't they be able to find us with conventional scanners?" Miranda reached down towards Oriana, who took her hand. She pulled her onto the table.

"This entire facility is engulfed in a jamming signal. Our father is nothing if not paranoid." She started prying a panel from the ceiling. "I hope you're not claustrophobic." Oriana smiled for the first time in weeks.

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"Go!" Shepard yelled. Garrus and Tali took off. Legion landed a geth fighter nearby. Shepard followed her team towards the geth fighter.

She had just guided a Normandy strike on the Reaper signal source, only to find out the Reaper signal source was a Reaper, complete with red blazing eye of death. It dragged itself out of hiding, then started shooting at her.

Shepard leapt into the fighter with the rest of her team, and Legion flew her away from the Reaper. The Reaper pursued them with huge strides of its clawed limbs. The Normandy hit it with a strike of its Thannix cannon, knocking it off balance for a few seconds.

"Land over there." Shepard told him, pointing to the edge of a cliff.

"Shepard Commander, we can make our escape." Legion told her.

"No! We have to end this." She hopped out of the fighter, taking the targeting weapon with her. "If we don't take out this Reaper, the geth stay under their control, and the quarians will be destroyed." She strode to the edge of the cliff, staring down the Reaper. Though the Normandy's attack cracked its exterior, Shepard knew it was a long way from defeated.

"Shepard!" Tali exclaimed.

"Stay there, Tali. Your people need you more than ever." Legion guided the geth fighter to a sheltered location.

"She knows what she's doing, Tali." Garrus said, holding Tali's shoulder.

"EDI, contact the quarians! I want them to use your targeting system to acquire the Reaper.

"It will be done, Commander."

"Tell them to hit the Reaper with the entire fleet. Finally the geth will be free." Shepard approached the edge of the cliff. The Reaper was disoriented, but still functional.

She waited until the Reaper opened its main weapon. She targeted the glowing red eye, but the targeting system was not fast enough. The Reaper slashed a beam towards her location. She rolled away, then started running. The Reaper cut a crevice through the plateau she was on, leaving a deep cut through the rock. Shepard whipped up the targeting device, and the Normandy locked on.

The strike from the sky smacked the Reaper to the side. Shepard jumped over the crevice, readying the targeting weapon for a second attack. The Reaper crawled closer before initiating another attack. Shepard was ready. As it opened its blast shield she started the targeting laser. The Reaper blasted towards her again. She dodged to the side, avoiding the huge beam as it carved another gash into the rock. She leapt over the groove, then continued targeting the Reaper.

Another huge explosion rocked the Reaper as ship based weapons blasted it from the sky. Shepard was mildly surprised the Reaper did not refocus towards the ships in the atmosphere. It must understand the targeting concept more extensively than she thought. On shaky legs it moved even closer. It was almost on top of her at this point. It was consuming most of Shepard's vision.

The Reaper started charging up its main weapon. Shepard started the targeting laser, but it seemed to take forever. The blazing red Reaper beam cut quickly towards her.

"Damn." She said, rolling to the side. She sprinted away, leaping over the cuts the Reaper already put into the ground. The beam blasted right behind her. Shepard aimed at the red eye, and started the targeting laser again. The Reaper was so close its weapon took no time at all to find her. The blast was already tearing towards her with the targeting laser still trying to get a lock.

Shepard didn't bother to yell out or curse, saving her energy for a sprint. She ran back away from the beam, striving for a safe distance. As she ran to the other side of the plateau she forgot the previous cuts the Reaper carved into the ground, and collapsed into one.

"Fuck!" She yelled. Her head and shoulder were at the bottom of the crevice, the targeting laser was lying next to her. Desperately she whipped the targeting weapon towards the Reaper, which was already charging up its weapon. There was no need to get up, she wouldn't be able to get away in time. She had to hope the laser would target in time. The red of the Reaper weapon filled her vision as she held the laser firm. She shut her eyes.

Noise overwhelmed her. She waited a minute. Pain in my shoulder, not too bad...nothing searing. She opened her eyes. Garrus was crouched over the edge of the cut in the earth, smiling at her. "Come on Shepard." He reached a hand down to her.

After an embarrassing crawl out of the relatively small ditch, Shepard approached the Reaper. It was crushed and in pieces, but the red eye turned to look towards her.

"Shepard." It said in a deep mechanical voice.

"You know me?" She asked. Garrus and Tali walked up behind her.

"Harbringer speaks of you. You resist. But you will fail." It said.

"I've killed you, I've killed Sovereign. What makes you think I can't kill all of you?" Shepard asked.

"We are many." It said.

"And we are more. We are united against you, and will destroy you all."

"Every organic race must be harvested to bring order to the chaos. It is inevitable." The Reaper said. "Without our intervention, organic races are doomed. We are your salvation."

"Salvation!?" Shepard exclaimed. "How is having a death machine created in our image salvation?" She pointed at the machine. "You...whatever the hell you were created to emulate. You are not preserving the essence of them, you are a mockery of them. You keep all the death, all the hate, and remove all kindness, love, and mercy."

The Reaper eye went dark, whether in response to her tirade or simply a loss of power, she couldn't tell. Shepard scoffed.

"We did it. We destroyed a Reaper. Keelah..." Tali said.

00000000

"Shepard...please." Tali asked. She didn't know what to do. The Reaper was dead, the geth were free. However, Legion was uploading upgraded Reaper code to all geth...while the quarian fleet was actively engaged with them. Tali commanded the fleet to retreat, but she was overruled by Admiral Han'Gerrel. Shepard seemed unmoved.

"Twenty percent." Legion said, still uploading the advanced code.

"I beg you, do not do this." Tali asked Legion directly.

"We regret the deaths of the creators, but we see no alternative. Forty percent." Legion told her. Was it really down to the us or the geth?

"Nobody else dies today." Shepard said. "Keep going, Legion."

"Shepard?" Tears started to drip from Tali's eyes. Shepard is taking the geth side. What can I do? Shepard activated her comm link.

"Quarian fleet. This is Commander Shepard. The Reaper is dead. The geth will be reactivated in just a few moments. They will retaliate if you continue to attack them. They will not if you back off! Stand down!" She said. Tali was astonished. Shepard cut right to the heart of the matter.

"This is Admiral Tali'Zorah. Shepard speaks with my authority." She added.

"And mine as well." Admiral Koris added.

"No! We can win this war now! Keep firing!" Admiral Han'Gerrel demanded. Tali started shaking. How could he be so stupid?

"Sixty percent." Legion said. Tali looked at him, her eyes growing large. Her hand twitched towards her gun. A glance from Shepard and she froze. An overwhelming sense of dread settled over her.

"The geth are going to be at full strength in seconds." Shepard announced over her comm link. "If you keep attacking, they will wipe you out. You forced them to join the reapers when you attacked."

"Eighty percent." Legion said. Tali couldn't move.

"If you ever want to see your home world from anything other than an escape pod, you will stop this stupid war. The geth do not want to fight you. Please, if you can believe that for just one minute this will all be over. You have a choice. Keelah Se'lai." Shepard stopped. Tali held her breath.

"All units, hold fire." Han'Gerrel announced, finally. Tali almost collapsed in relief. Shepard wrapped an arm around her.

"Error. Copying code is insufficient. Direct personality dissemination required." Legion said. Tali joined Shepard in looking at him.

"Legion?" Shepard asked, taking a step towards him.

"I am sorry, Shepard Commander. I must go to the geth directly to finalize the transmission." Tali, overwhelmed with the situation change, couldn't help but feel for Legion.

"Legion. You asked whether I could answer the question; 'Does this unit have a soul?'" Tali told him. "The answer is, yes."

"I know, Tali." Legion said. "But thank you. Keelah Se'lai."

Legion dropped to his knees, then collapsed completely. Tali held her head down, shocked at her rapid switch from wanting to kill him to mourning him, all in the space of a few minutes. All because of Shepard, and her way with words.

Auntie Raan, who crash landed very near their location, joined them after a few moments, and a geth prime shortly after that. After a tense moment and surprising introductions, the geth gave them an entire continent to settle, offered assistance with their resettlement efforts, and even gave support to the crucible. Tali couldn't believe it.

She walked to the edge of the cliff and sat down. Shepard sat down beside her. They looked out over the arid landscape.

"I can't believe it, Shepard. We have a home again. And the geth are going to help us." Tali said.

"Yep. I know working with the geth will be difficult..." Shepard started.

"I'll leave that to the other admirals." Tali told her, a smile coming to her face. "I'm going with you."

"Tali?" Shepard asked. "There's a lot to be done here. I wouldn't pull you away from this."

"No, you wouldn't. But what you are doing is important. I'm going with you."

"If you're sure..." Shepard said. Tali nodded. "I didn't want to say anything, but it will be great having you back on the Normandy." She glanced behind them. ."..and I'm sure Garrus won't complain either." She smiled. Tali glanced back briefly towards Garrus, giving her avian friend a warm smile.

"While we're making history..." Tali started unclamping her face mask.

"Tali?" Shepard sounded alarmed.

"It will be a long time before we are rid of the entire suit...but it's a start." She pulled off her mask, then looked over the Rannoch landscape with no mask. She eventually turned to Shepard with a smile.

"Yep." Shepard said with a smirk. "Still drop dead gorgeous." Tali's smile widened.

00000000

Miranda and Oriana were holed up in a maintenance room of some sort. Several pieces of equipment were strewn about the room. The door was sturdy metal, and Miranda reprogrammed it so it would only open from the inside.

By accessing terminals and visual logs they pieced together their father's failure. Cerberus took over the facility months ago. With Henry and The Illusive Man's direction, refugees of all races were transformed into Reaper troops using Reaper tech Cerberus recovered from somewhere. Then, Henry devised a signal barrier to block the Reaper control of the transformed refugees. Finally they explored options to control the refugees. Presumably the intent was to control all Reapers. Somehow the Reapers found out about their plan and started sending harvesters to attack the facility. Both Oriana and Miranda found it hard to believe their father could be so heartless, but the evidence was overwhelming.

Miranda was sitting against a wall. Oriana was lying next to her, with her head in her lap. She was sleeping. Miranda stroked her hair. Before Oriana drifted off she told her exactly what went on for the last month. Her father certainly hadn't changed a bit. Miranda listened to her sister's stories, remembering very similar experiences before she ran away. His mission here proved just how far their father's depravity went.

She watched her sister slumber, feeling good about finally getting her back. They were far from safety, but at least they were together. She finally had half her heart back. The other half would be coming tomorrow, with an elite squad at her back. She smiled at the thought. Just a month ago, while sorting data on Sanctum, Miranda had thought long and hard about her strong connection to her sister and Samantha. She was shocked to discover that both Samantha and Oriana meant more to her than herself. It was as if each of them kept a part of her heart with them. Without either of them, she was incomplete. It was frightening to place so much of herself in their hands, but she accepted the consequences. Once I have them back, I'm not going to let them go.

Something else was bothering her...something keeping her from joining her sister in peaceful slumber. When she first started the Lazarus Project, she was scared to death about Shepard. What if she didn't cooperate? What if she didn't do what Cerberus wanted? What if she didn't...to use an ancient phrase...what if she didn't play ball?

Miranda had wanted to install a control chip into Shepard. The Illusive Man overruled her. "Shepard should be exactly as she was...no exceptions." Maybe he thought Samantha would be more accepting of his viewpoint, or more lenient of his transgressions, but the end result stood. Shepard was not revived with a control chip, and betrayed Cerberus at every opportunity. Miranda was initially irritated at the constant back-stabbing, but she eventually came around to Shepard's way of thinking, even going so far as to break away from Cerberus herself. Miranda did not know if the Illusive Man regretted his decision, but Samantha's rebellion against him, in full knowledge that he brought her back to life, was one of the things that Miranda admired most about Sam. It was so similar to her own rebellion against her father that she couldn't help but love her for it.

And yet, she had wanted to install a control chip into Shepard. Her greatest achievement was bringing her back to life, and she wanted control over her. It was like she slammed a hypocrite spike through her own chest. Didn't you run away from your own father...aren't you still running away from your father because he wanted to control you? Miranda felt incredibly troubled each time she thought about it. You brought the greatest human back to life and it wasn't good enough. You wanted to make sure she followed your line of thinking. She was disgusted at herself. Miranda stroked her sister's hair for a long time before falling asleep.

Author's note: Thanks to everyone for the reviews.