Chapter Nine – Nothing Interesting
Miranda forced her weapons back into their slots in the weapons locker and walked back to her room. Kasumi was leaning on the doorway, shuffling a deck of cards. The thin cardboard made a rasp as they flicked them from left hand to right hand.
"You wanna play?" Kasumi said.
"No thanks."
Miranda continued past her, removing her armor as she walked.
"It's rough, getting left behind like that," Kasumi said.
"She can't take everyone everywhere."
Miranda took her seat behind her desk, while Kasumi sat on the desk itself, her back half turned to Miranda.
"You don't sound convinced."
Miranda knew what she had said was true; Shepard couldn't take a full complement of crewmates on every mission. And reading psyche reports on Tali, Miranda knew that she was naturally distrustful. The mission would go smoother with Garrus and Liara being familiar to Tali already. Still, as second in command, it didn't seem right that she be left behind without notice.
"I was with Shepard when the alarm went off," Miranda said.
"What was she like? Did she spring into action? Get a really serious look on her face? Or just not even break a sweat?"
"I was in her bedroom."
Kasumi jumped off the desk and spun around. Her hood fell down from the speed of the movements.
"You were in bed together?"
"Not exactly."
"Not exactly? You either were or you weren't. There's no grey area."
"We weren't naked in each other's arms, but it wasn't like nothing happened either. There was a…" Miranda searched for the word to describe exactly what it was, "A moment."
Kasumi leaned in closer. Miranda noticed for the first time that the pink streak had been dyed purple.
"Did you kiss her?"
Yes. Yes! Miranda wanted to scream. But she couldn't. The chance had been missed.
"I brushed her hair out of her face."
"Ooh. How dirty."
The sarcasm practically dripped from the corners of Kasumi's lips.
"It was more than that. She talked about how she didn't even know Liara anymore, how I was the only one she could trust."
"And you still didn't kiss her?"
Kasumi was just regurgitating the voice in Miranda's head.
"Maybe I would have. Everything happened so fast. And I didn't know if it was too soon, how she would react. I was afraid."
Kasumi's eyes widened briefly, surprised that Miranda was being so honest. Maybe it was guilt over the foolishness of pressing Kasumi on the fate of her partner. Kasumi was touched, but she knew the way to drive this situation forward was to be decisive. Miranda might have been willing to open up once, but Kasumi did not think it would become a habit for her.
"Listen to me. The second Shep gets back you grab her by that thick red hair, pull her close and kiss her til she can't breathe."
"What if it's too late? What if she reconciles with Liara on this mission. It'll be just like the old days with Vakarian and Tali there."
Kasumi placed her hand on Miranda's shoulder, "Trust me. Nothing interesting will happen on this mission."
A grenade burst, showering dirt up at Shepard and Liara. It was like the planet itself was behind them. To their left, Garrus was driving through the hostiles, gunning them down with mean precision. Even Shepard was struggling to keep up. Garrus was always a good fighter, great even, but always consistent too. He never let you down, but it was rare that emotions scorched in his belly so that he fought with such fervor. Seeing Tali again was clearly important to him.
The hostiles were simple armed mechs; the collectors, if that was truly what they were, that scared Tali into her distress signal, had already left. The grenade blast sent Shepard stumbling to her knees. As Liara reached out a hand to pull Shepard up, a mech aimed squarely at the centre of Liara's back. It was a cowardly shot, even for a robot, but it would do that job. Shepard pulled Liara down, and the bullet flew safely beyond them into the dim battlefield mist, while another spraying of inch perfect killshots from Garrus put an end to the gutless mech.
Maybe it was the force of Shepard's pull, or maybe it was Liara wanting it to happen, but Liara ended up on top of Shepard, hands held, rolling in the dirt. Maybe it was old habits dying a little too hard. They smiled at each other, and it was not awkward. Shepard had been dead for two years, and Liara had strayed, so it was nice for Shepard to feel close to Liara without it being difficult or uncomfortable. But sometimes nice is the worst insult. Shepard felt none of the built up tension or passion she had felt in those claustrophobic interactions with Miranda, none of the pleasurable shiver from when Miranda had brushed Shepard's red hair back. And she had felt that with Liara before. When she had first kissed those blue lips, when she had caressed Liara's skin, allowing her fingertips to soak up each exciting new dimple. Perhaps her relationship with Liara had just moved to a different place. After all, it was a meaningful relationship with a future. Not just sex. Shepard wasn't sure if she could see that with Miranda, but she wasn't sure if she had really looked yet. Perhaps the place her and Liara's relationship had moved to was Oversville. The Friend Zone.
A bullet stung Shepard's visor, and she snapped back into action. She was a soldier dammit, a good one. She needed to stop being so… female. She didn't cry while the men fought the wars. She led from the front. Rising from the trenches, as dirt colds fell from her uniform, Shepard took out four mechs with three bullets. Two with shots to the centre of their chestplates, and the other two with a headshot so good it pierced the eyesocket of one mech and carried on travelling into the one behind him. After Garrus emptied another clip and Liara sent out a Warp field, the hostiles were down. Now all they had to do was find Tali.
They walked further forward and saw more shadowy figures. A chorus of clicks and shunts rang out as the three of them readied their weapons. They edged closer, but the figures did not move.
"Wait, they're not attacking," Shepard said, pushing down the barrel of Garrus' gun.
Shepard walked up to one of the figures. It was a quarian, frozen in a fleeing pose. Its neck was turned looking back, knees raised as it sprinted forward. Not fast enough. A small swarm of flies surrounded the quarian, with long sharp bodies.
"What's happening?" Liara said.
"I'll take some samples. Maybe Mordin will know."
"Come on, we've got to get to Tali before it's too late," Garrus said.
He paid no notice to the frozen quarian. He only had one quarian on his mind.
