Mass Effect Fanfic

Chapter Eight

Authors Note

Here we are again, sorry for the delay, YET AGAIN, university started back up and it's extremely hectic this semester with assignments due almost every week, still haven't really settled into a routine, doubt I ever will. But hopefully after this little mishap yet again you'll have a chapter every single week. But here we go, Chapter 8. Is this the start of a plot twist I spy?


It had been over a week since Miranda Lawson had even seen a proper glimpse of Shepard, even during gym class the girl kept mostly to herself; she had even glanced across the field during cheerleading practice to see if the girl was spying on her team as per usual, only to find not even a sliver of evidence that suggested she was there. It was the mixture of surprise and another emotion she couldn't quite put her finger on that made her slip up big time, causing the entire human pyramid to come crashing down around her.

That is of course how she ended up in detention, scowling angrily at anybody that even dare say a word to her as she marched in. Miranda Lawson never ended up in detention. Not once in the three years she had been attending had she received detention, or any ill-regard by any of the teachers for that matter. She was a straight A student and she prided herself on it.

Striding up to the desk she slammed her detention slip down on the table, startling the supervisor, Miss Chambers, or Kelly as she preferred to be called, out of her paperwork and to stare directly at the enraged girl. Kelly looked no less than stunned, switching her eyes back and forth between the slip and Miranda before gesturing to the room with a warm but confused smile, "Feel free to take a seat Miss Lawson. Please refrain from using your personal devices while in this room, I hate having to send kids back to Anderson."

With an audible scoff Miranda pivoted on her heel and took off down the rows of tables and chairs until she plopped herself down in one by the window, her bag landing with a thud on the table beside her. She wasn't daft though, she could feel all the eyes in the room on her, hushed whispers being passed between them.

Suddenly a voice from the back of the room had her grinding her teeth in anger, "And what did little Miss Perfect Cheerleader get detention for?" laughed Jack, audibly hitting someone on the arm to gain their attention to the fact, "Broke a nail?"

"Ha-Ha-Ha I'm so amused," Miranda quipped back at her, not even bothering to offer her the courtesy of turning around.

"Yeah what did you get detention for anyway?" said another kid.

"I ain't ever seen no cheer lady in here before," a young Krogan added on, his eyes wide.

Now don't get her wrong, Miranda Lawson had patience galore, hell she had more patience than she knew what to do with most days. But the stress of the last week and the fact she had just recently caused several unneeded injuries made for a very thin and ever weakening line. Breathing deeply in an attempt to calm herself she just grabbed one of her text books and flipped it open with a loud smack, pretending to read it in an half hearted attempt to ignore the other students.

That was until Jack's grating voice cut in again, "Does the cheerleader want a hug? Must be a lot, getting a detention and- OW" Jack yelped as someone audibly hit her.

Miranda's head whipped around to find none other than Shepard seated next to Jack, defending off a flurry of attacks from the other girl in retaliation for the single hit she had given her.

"Quite down please," said Kelly, noticing the fighting going on at the back, she usually just let Jack and Shepard do whatever they please, they were both in there often enough, especially Jack.

Noah laughed under her breath before pushing Jack back into her seat and loudly declaring that she had won and seated herself back down, but not before earning a forceful punch in her arm, one that was sure to bruise. Miranda had to force herself not to openly stare at the two of them and struggled to turn back around to her book.

More than anything in the world she wanted to be angry with Shepard, to turn around and accuse her of things that made little sense in her head and would make less sense if said out loud. She wasn't even sure why she was angry at her, only that she was and that the anger was the strongest emotion she had felt for someone at the school since she had first arrived three years ago.

Kelly Chambers was a smart woman, a degree in psychology and behaviour sciences; she had spent the majority of her life being the watchful eyes and ears of the Alliance for their common soldiers on some of the most dangerous missions. But now, assigned to the school under Admiral Hackett's orders, Kelly was having the time of her life. She loved watching in on quarrels of the students, knowing all too well what the underlying feelings of either party were. And as she stared out at the classroom before her she could only smile as she observed the interactions, or lack thereof, between Noah Shepard and Miranda Lawson. In a fluid movement she stood from her seat and marched her way down the aisles of desks, stopping short in front of Noah's, watching as both her and Jack held their heads up with not an inch of fear whatsoever.

"I told the both of you that if I saw any more fighting I'd have to split you up, I don't want to have Anderson walking into the class again and being an audience to your wrestling matches, now Shepard," the aforementioned girl scowled and crossed her arms but Kelly knew she was listening anyway, "Collect your things and move to a different seat. And not next to any of the Krogan this time please, watching them butt heads with each other is bad enough, having another cracked skull is not something I wish to see ever again."

Shepard looked indignant about the entire ordeal but swung her bag up over her shoulder and picked her book, scribbled with little terrible drawings, whacking it across Jack's head before hurrying down the aisle and very purposefully sitting behind none other than the seemingly fuming Ice Princess.

Minutes passed without any sort of recognition from the girl in front of her, she hadn't even bothered to look around and scowl at her. With a light kick to Miranda's chair she whispered so only the girl could hear, "Really what are you in here for?"

A flipped finger over the shoulder was all Shepard received in return. Noah smirked and whacked the hand with her book, causing a grunt of first mild pain and then an enraged fury of swinging hair before piercing blue eyes were boring directly into her. "Well?" Shepard asked to her, ignoring the look she was getting.

With a glance over to Jack to notice the girl wasn't even remotely interested in their conversation, Miranda just sighed and shrugged, turning her chair so it was half facing the curious girl, "Wasea is being harsh with her punishment handouts, I made the pyramid fall while climbing it, I got detention for it, that's it, there's nothing more to it..." she paused as she studied Noah's face, "...why are you here?"

In an instant the smug look on Noah's face fell and was replaced by a scowl, "Actually I got two weeks detention for storming out of Vega's class. David rambled on for hours about how I should be proud and glad that I even get to go here and don't waste the opportunity, blah blah," an overdramatised hand movement accompanied the speech before she just refolded her arms and shrugged her shoulders, "It's not that bad here, having Jack makes it more bearable I guess."

An awkward silence had draped over the girls in an uncomfortable matter, it was nearing the end of the days detention and there was quite a bit of noise around the room as people discussed their weekend plans. "I'm sorry you know," Miranda would have missed the mumble from the girl had she not been paying apt attention.

With a confused raised eyebrow she just watched the girl, an affirmation that she had indeed heard the apology. Noah pushed her book around her desk like a scolded child and continued to talk, "Shouldn't have stuck my head in yours and your boyfriends business. But he was being a real clingy jackass."

If anyone had been watching they would have noticed the very genuine and amused smile that crept its way along the Australian's face, "He's not usually that bad actually. We're actually just taking a break. So he's not my boyfriend, childish as that sounds."

For the first time in a long time Miranda Lawson was glad to be having an actual heartfelt conversation with someone. Except for her younger sister Oriana she never talked like this to people. It wasn't as if she lacked friends, she had plenty of them, but none of them had struck her right enough to be the kind of people she could open up to. Shepard was by far the strangest individual she had ever met at her time at this school. The girl was headstrong and resolute in everything she did, she made friends and collected allies like she was a soldier on a mission. Different people of all walks flocked around her and put their utmost trust in her. In a way, Miranda was strangely jealous - of what she wasn't quite sure.

"What are you doing this weekend?" questioned Shepard as she bought the girl back to reality, "You know...other than being a pompous cheerleader?"

And there it was again, that side of Shepard that one could only ever consider to be a gigantic jerk. Miranda visibly scowled, "We're not pompous. And why do you even want to know?"

"Yes you are, don't lie," Noah laughed, both at Miranda's reply and her visible frown, "I was just being curious. Everybody was asking everybody else, figured it was the proper thing to do and whatnot."

It was at that time, just before Miranda was about to make her reply that the bell chimed loudly and in the half second it took her to realize what was going on, a bag had been launched across the room and deflected off Shepard's raised arms, protecting the girls own face, and straight into Miranda's own.

Jack bounded across the room straight after it, swinging a punch in the direction of Shepard as she fought the girl for control. It was obvious who was winning though, despite Jack's immense biotic strength, she had a tiny and lithe body structure without it, and was easily overpowered by Shepard's much bulkier and built frame. Within a few moments Noah had her pinned easily to the desk, her arms stretched awkwardly behind her back causing a look of discomfort to cross her features.

"Told you Jack, you can't get the jump on me," Shepard laughed victoriously.

Looking up at where the bag had gone and seeing an absolutely livid Lawson rubbing the side of her head where the stray bag at clipped her, "You two are the worst pair of people I have ever met," snapped the Australian in a harsh tone, "It's like you don't even care who or what is around you."

Jack, despite being pinned painfully beneath Noah managed to look up at Miranda and instead of offering the apology which would have been ignored anyway, just grinned a wicked smirk, "I just thought you were empty wasted space princess, and it's not like my bag is damaged so why do I care if your pretty little face gets bruised?"

A few straggling onlookers watched the confrontation with absolute delight; it was a well known fact that the resident Ice Princess and School Delinquent were never on friendly terms, but to see an actual fight break out between them was rare, and what made the situation that much more entertaining was the addition of the new girl whose name travelled far too fast for the schools liking all those weeks ago.

Miranda's eyes swirled with a strange sense of hurt as the words hit her like a tonne of bricks. However what was seen in her eyes by Shepard and by Shepard only was not reflected on her face for the rest of the world. With her signature cocky tilt and smirk Miranda just simply crushed the bag with her biotics and all of the belongings inside of it, silently thankful that Shepard had a firm grip on the girl beneath her. Dropping the bag on the ground with a thud and storming out, pushing past several younger students as she did so, she took one last glance back at Shepard before disappearing into the hallway.

Scrambling off the girl beneath her, Shepard looked at the now creased bag and chuckled as the pencils and pens within it all fell out broken in some way or another. Jack scowled openly at her, hitting her with the now empty bag, "Could have let me go before she did this you know, one day I'll actually put my fist in her pretty little face."

"For someone you hate so much you certainly enjoy calling her pretty."

"Haha fuck you, very funny. For someone you hate so much you looked rather happy to be talking to her."

Noah laughed, grabbing her own bag as she strode for the door, dodging a wrestling pair of Krogan's on the way out, "Whoever said I hated her?" she called back to a seething Jack still picking up items from the floor. A flipped finger over the shoulder was all she got in response, causing another chuckle to erupt from the girl before she disappeared off down the hallway herself.


New York City - Undisclosed Location

"Where is she?" a voice snapped, its owner had their back turned to the group that surrounded the dimly lit table.

"We don't know," the reply came from a skinny boy, he looked nothing short of terrified, "Our scouts have reported no sightings for weeks. The school won't give any information up either."

"A Red does not just disappear," a bottle flew across the room, exploding into tiny shards as it connected with the opposing wall, "Are we positive none of the police stations are currently holding her?"

The terrified boy nodded, shaking the fear from his voice before talking again, "Positive. We've pulled all the strings we possibly have, she's not being detained and as far as we can tell she wasn't arrested either."

A snarl that sounded akin to a wild animal escaped the angry man still hidden within the shadows of the room, he was pacing now, "Then where the fuck is she!?" his voice echoed across the room, the other inhabitants lowered their heads. Whether it was in respect or fear they weren't quite sure.

It was then that the only door in the room swished open, flooding the room with an eerie blue light. A young woman waltzed in, donned in the same colours as the others. She held herself in a manner that suggested she was a leader. The man in the shadows smirked as the door swished close again, "And so the princess finally decided to join us?"

"Watch your tongue Gabriel," she hissed, and his face turned into a petulant scowl, "Remember who's in charge around here, so take a damn seat; I've got news regarding our dear little prodigy."

The man in the shadows, Gabriel as the intruder called him, finally emerged, his smirk said more than any words could. He pulled his seat out one end of the table. The woman placed a folder down in front of him before speaking to the entire group, "Our friends from across the border got wind of our little problem, said they wanted to arrange a meeting on neutral grounds. Turns out our little girl has skipped town."

A murmur of voices filled the room before they were ushered into quiet again by the leading male. The woman smiled and opened up the folder, revealing a picture cropped from a news broadcast about a football game; a bright red circle surrounded a girl clearly visible in the stands. The clip only lasted a few seconds but it was more than enough evidence. The head man looked on with curiosity, "And the fact she's attending a football game means what to us?"

"You really didn't notice did you, you halfwit. Look at the colours she's wearing," the woman snapped as she jabbed a finger at the small screen, "They are the Normandy Academy colours. There's only one reason she'd be wearing them, only one reason she'd be attending a game held at the very place."

A realization dawned on all of the people at the table, their faces were a mixture of shock and betrayal, but none quite matched the man seated at the head. Gabriel looked to be seething with anger. He knew she was smart, he'd always known. That's why she had been so good at tactics. That's why the one in charge had chosen her to be the next in line.

His fist slammed down onto the table as he flung the folder off to the side somewhere, he stood his full height again, coming eye to eye with the woman, "You may be above me in rank Fox, but right now I could care less about rank. Find me all the information you can about this fucking academy. I want a hundred percent positives. We can only stall Damien so long, sooner or later he'll find out his little pride and joy has gone missing and then we're in a world of shit."

Fox, the woman who had intruded in late simply nodded, turning back to the group before her, "You heard the man. Connect with the Blue Coats council if you must. Be warned though, if wind of this mission gets to Damien or the Coats Leader, I will have your head on a platter."

The group stood in one swift motion, a unanimous salute and a yes ma'am echoed in the room before they all hurried out. All that remained were Gabriel and Fox, both were staring down at the folder on the ground as the video looped over and over. Gabriel let out an exhausted breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding. His gaze locked with the woman before him, his tone was softer and calmer than it had been during the meet, "She wouldn't have just run away."

Fox nodded her head in agreement, her bottom lip was caught between her teeth for a moment as her eyes shifted across the dim room, "No, you're completely right. She was more loyal to the Reds, to Damien, then any of us are," her hands ran through her hair before she dragged them down her face, "And she wouldn't have left without saying goodbye, you and I know her better than anyone Gabe, she wouldn't have done that willingly."

Gabriel stood from his seat, picking the folder from the ground and handing it back to Fox as he tried to smile to reassure her, but it quickly faded into a frown "You know what this kind of treason means for her, right?"

The silence fell thick in the room as that fact rested on them. The Reds were a gang, yes. The mostly specialized in terrorizing the rich in meaningless ways. They did things that thugs did, lawless petty thugs. But everyone knew, even their recruits, the lowest of the low, that they had a much shadier hand in things. The rumours told of them operating drug rings, illegal weapon imports. All under the police forces noses.

Fox breathed out a shaky breath as she took the folder again, watching the clip of the cheering, smiling girl before her. Her fingers gently traced the video before she looked back up to Gabriel, "It's going to turn into a vendetta Gabe. We'll have to present our findings to Damien eventually. And he'll set out for Boston as soon as a plan is formulated. He won't lose her to some fancy school. Not with the secrets she knows."

A pair of warm arms circled around her as she let out another shaky breath. Her head rested against Gabriel's shoulder, "Shepard is resilient," he remarked in a calm manner, "And she's the smartest girl I know, leagues smarter than us or Damien. If she's gone there willingly then she'll fight to keep her place there. And I for one would rather see her get a damn good education then spend the rest of her life here."

Fox pushed herself from his embrace before straightening herself up, smiling that same fake smirk she had always walked around with in preparation for the exit of the room, "You're my brother, and I'm your superior, Noah was the thing that held us together when mom died years ago. I won't lose her. Not like this. Not until I get answers."

With a huff and turn of the heel she retreated from the room and back into the warehouse that connected to it. Gabriel watched after her before shaking his head, taking the folder and stashing it in his bag, with one last glance at the girl in it. "What have you done, Shep?" he whispered to himself, "Leaving us all without a single word. Surely you'd know what that would have done to Fox..."

Zipping his bag up and chucking it over his shoulder he stormed out of the room, pushing over a thin pathetic looking recruit before advancing further into the warehouse. His face was stone cold. Few people were privy to the warmth he displayed moments before. His features turned into a scowl as he hopped onto his bike, strapping his helmet on and roaring out the door onto the street. He needed to be the one to find Shepard first, he feared what would happen otherwise. He needed to warn her of the impending war headed her way. He turned his bike toward the outskirts of New York and then toward the border. Yes, he had decided while driving, even if the rest of the gang was against him, he needed to help Noah Shepard.